GBS 2026: Ann E Harrison on trade, growth, and climate challenges | ET NOW Global Business Summit 2026

She highlighted that the standard way to measure globalisation is by looking at the share of exports in GDP. “India has had a remarkable transformation,” Harrison said, noting that India has surpassed China and the USA in this measure. “India has also shown remarkable progress in trade,” she added, pointing to the broader shift in global investment flows.

Harrison explained, “Over the past 20 years, the largest share of inward foreign investment went to China. But over the last five years, China’s share has dropped dramatically, replaced by India. Today, India accounts for the largest share of foreign investment going to Asia. While the overall levels have not increased substantially, India’s share is definitely bigger, with greenfield investment in particular picking up—a bright win on the horizon.”

She also underscored India’s economic growth: “India has surpassed all large countries in its growth rate. According to the IMF World Economic Outlook, India’s GDP growth in 2026 is expected to be 6 per cent, exceeding China’s and all other large countries.”

Turning to climate change, Harrison cited a striking warning from Gita Gopinath at last year’s Davos summit: “The pollution in India is a bigger economic threat than any tariffs that the United States can impose.” To illustrate, she noted that “today, the air quality index in Delhi is hovering around 200—that’s 23 times what the World Health Organisation says is a safe level for air quality.”

Despite these challenges, Harrison concluded with optimism: “But there is hope.”

ET NOW Global Business Summit 2026

At a time when disruption is continuous and power is being re-distributed across technology, geopolitics, capital, and society, Times Group’s thought leadership dialogue, ET NOW Global Business Summit (GBS) 2026, set to take place on February 13 and February 14 at the Hotel Taj Palace in New Delhi, embraces the theme “A Decade of Disruption. A Century of Change”.

This year’s edition reflects the scale, speed, and significance of transformations reshaping global economies, from technological acceleration and geopolitical realignment to sustainability imperatives and new governance models.

The GBS 2026 will evaluate a range of themes, including economic disruption, Industry 5.0, globalisation, workforce transformation, energy security and business diversification.

The Times Group’s ET NOW Global Business Summit (GBS) is not a reflection on the past; it is a platform built to shape what comes next. As Asia’s most influential global leadership forum, it convenes the architects of economies, institutions, and enterprises to script the forces that will define the century ahead.

Conceived as a space where leaders confront uncertainty before it becomes inevitability, GBS convenes the world’s most influential voices to interpret disruption, design direction, and script long-term impact.

As economies, technologies, and governance systems undergo accelerated transformation, GBS serves as a centre of global conversations, where emerging realities are debated, strategic responses are forged, and the foundations of future growth are laid.