Klaus Martin Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, during the session titled ‘Strengthening South Asia - Impacting the World’.

In an interview at the summit, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, minister of external affairs, expressed cautious optimism about India’s ability to reach a free trade agreement with the U.S., a day after the Indian and US commerce secretaries spoke on the topic on the first day of the summit. On the contested issue of the disputed Kashmir region, Jaishankar said after recent meetings in the U.S. he felt confident more people were coming around to India’s position.

Shobana Kamineni, executive vice-chairperson, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise, India, taking part in a session titled ‘Strengthening South Asia - Impacting the World’.

In a session on Asian unicorns, Shailendra Singh, managing director, Sequoia Capital India, Singapore, said India’s tech unicorns are at regulatory disadvantage when it comes to going public or tapping global markets. But as soon as that becomes easier, he predicted there will be dozens of Indian start-up IPOs, putting Indian entrepreneurs on the map.

Rajiv Kumar, vice-chairman, NITI Aayog, India, said South Asia will remain the fastest growing region. “It will contribute significantly more to global growth than it has done in the past,” he said. “In India, we are very focused on raising the growth rate.”