I caught up with Rajat Gupta at the Pan IIT 2007 conference in Silicon Valley. Mr. Gupta is deeply passionate about health and education and those were the twin topics of this conversation.

In this interview, he talks about the connection between healthcare and the economy of India. What is the connection between citizens health and economic growth of a nation? How does poor and bad health of a nation’s population impact its productivity and economic growth? How do you institute good and effective health policy and healthcare in India? What are the the challenges that India faces in the area of healthcare? These are some of the issues that Mr. Gupta addresses in this interview.

Mr. Gupta is a senior partner and a former managing director of McKinsey & Company worldwide. Mr. Gupta sits on the advisory boards of Harvard Business School and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. He is on the board of trustees of the University of Chicago and is the Chairman of the Board of the Indian School of Business at Hyderabad.

He is Co-Chair of the American Indian Foundation and private sector representative to the Board of the Global Fund for Aids, Malaria and Tuberculosis. and is  a trustee of the Rockefeller Foundation. Mr. Gupta advised McKinsey’s work with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. 

Mr. Gupta is a graduate of IIT, Delhi and Harvard Business School.

This interview was published on August 6, 2007.