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Eminent academicians and corporate leaders have teamed up to transform undergraduate education in India. Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan Chase are to form an independent healthcare company in the US. Athletics brand Nike has given a clarion call to all thinkers, designers and engineers to help develop recyclable products. Corporates are buying elephant sculptures.
What exactly is happening here?
Companies seem to be routinely going beyond shareholder return and indulging in multi-stakeholder engagement. For purpose-driven companies, these are interesting times, says NP Singh, MD and CEO, Sony Pictures Networks India.
More for society
“Until a few years ago, corporates restricted their social duties to corporate social responsibility alone. There has been a paradigm shift in the role played by corporates recently, in terms of contributing to society,” he said.
Stating that corporates are no longer considered to be solely profit-generating entities, Singh told BusinessLine : “This shift in the thought process can be attributed to the conscious effort made by corporates to widen their role and be the torch-bearers of positive change. Over the years,corporates have started going beyond, by adopting frameworks that promote inclusive growth for their organisations as well as society.”
This was underscored at a recent event in Mumbai. Announcing the setting up of Krea University in Sri City, Andhra Pradesh, with ₹750 crore to be invested in the first phase, speakers highlighted how future leaders need to adapt, have a sense of purpose, and understand and tackle societal problems. The university is looking to transform undergraduate education.
The varsity’s governing council will include corporate czars’ Anand Mahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group; Sajjan Jindal, CMD, JSW Group; Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, CMD, Biocon; former TCS chief S Ramadorai;R Seshasayee, Chairperson, IndusInd Bank; Cyril Shroff, Managing Partner of solicitor firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, and Thermax Group owner Anu Aga.
Sony Pictures’ Singh insists India is “sitting on a goldmine of raw and unskilled talent waiting to be nurtured, developed and added to the growing human resource pool.” “Companies are emerging as advocates to address societal challenges,and are no longer limiting their responsibilities to their balance sheet, shareholders or to occasional philanthropy.”
Many corporates’ social consciousness is having a positive social impact, even in tackling water and sanitation issues.
Like Piramal Sarvajal, which provides safe drinking water through customised and decentralised centres at select urban and rural locations. Among its partners are Nestle, NTPC, Asian Paints, BASF, Temasek, Mercedes-Benz and Shriram Commercial Vehicle Finance.
The Piramal Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Piramal Group, recently teamed up with NITI Aayog, to work towards transforming 115 ‘aspirational districts’ that face challenges pertaining to health and nutrition, education, financial inclusion, among others.
Ajay Piramal, Chairman, Piramal Group, said: “We have always believed that innovation comes with an element of risk, and that is where the private sector can assist the government in absorbing such challenges. Social impact at scale necessitates seamless public-private partnerships.”
Jumbo parade
Driven by the purpose of working towards a better society to coexist in, corporates are being drawn to a cause. Like the first-ever Elephant Parade India, a public art event supported by many corporates, which managed to raise over ₹6 crore for elephant conservation in the country.
Created as part of the UK-India Year of Culture, Elephant Parade India was organised by Elephant Family in partnership with the Wildlife Trust of India.
Major corporates are facing growing pressure to weigh in on social issues and much of the pressure is coming from society itself, said Ruth Ganesh, Trustee, Elephant Family. She hoped the elephant sculptures that dotted Mumbai will encourage more corporates to open up their purse strings towards pachyderms.
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