Corporate India in strength at Modi's inauguration

New Delhi, May 26 (IANS) Gautam Adani was there and so were the Ambani brothers, Anil and Mukesh, as a galaxy of corporate leaders marked their presence among the 4,500 guests at the grand inauguration ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi here Monday evening.

Never has such a gathering of corporate leaders converged for the oath-taking of a new Indian prime minister, perhaps an indication of the high hopes they invest in Modi.

Among the who's who of India, eight prominent leaders from South Asia and the diplomatic corps, India Inc was also well represented, as Modi was administered the oath of office by President Pranab mukherjee as India's 14th prime minister.

The Ambani family at the event not just included the two brothers, but also their mother Kokilaben and Nita Ambani, the wife of Mukesh, and their two sons Akash and Anant. Anil Ambani's wife Tina, too, attended the event at Rashtrapati Bhavan.

The other business leaders at the ceremony included Shashi Ruia and his son Prashant of the of Essar Group, Hari Bhartia of Jubilant, Bharti Group's Sunil Mittal, DLF's Rajiv Singh, Hero Corp's Pawan Munjal, Suzlon's Tulsi Tanti and Videocon's Rajkumar Dhoot.

Notable among the absentees who were invited but could not make it included Tata Group's Ratan Tata and Cyrus Mistry, HDFC Bank's Deepak Parekh, Aditya Vikram Birla Group's Kumar Mangalam Birla and Mahindra Grop's Anand Mahindra.

From the aviation space, Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal and the new emerging carrier AirAsia's Mittu Chandilya were spotted.

Some other leaders who attended the event also had their tweets and messages ready, just as Modi himself was in sending a message to the people through the relaunched website of the Prime Minister's Office.

"Building business confidence, creating job-enabling environment, mitigating food inflation and improving nutrition & sanitation, should be top priorities for the government," said a statement from Sidharth Birla, the president of leading chamber FICCI.

"We believe this is a pivotal moment in the nation's history that can shape the future of our 1.2 billion people," said Ajay Shriram, president of another leading chamber CII.

"The Hon'ble Prime Minister's stress on growth and development has translated into an unequivocal mandate for change, and Industry looks forward to a new era of reform and liberalization of the Indian economy."