Companies urged to focus on inclusive growth

The need for the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities of companies to engage the less privileged of society cannot be emphasised more.

Speakers at the opening of the two-day CII National summit on Corporate Social Responsibility 2007 held recently in Chennai stressed that companies should focus on inclusive growth while planning their CSR initiatives.

The summit was inaugurated by Ratan Tata, chairman, Tata Sons. Venu Srinivasan, summit chairman, said an effective CSR initiative must engage the less privileged on a partnership basis.

"CSR implies sustainable development of the community by being partners in their progress," he said. The industry's focus should not be just about becoming efficient and competitive, but also inclusive.

Industries have expertise in human resource management, financial management and business planning. They can easily establish that elusive "last mile connectivity" to reach to the deserving, Srinivasan said.

Helping micro-enterprises grow and become self-sustaining would go a long way, compared to mere philanthropy. Industry must be a catalyst for social development and provide leadership, know-how and training in communities where it is needed, he added.

Speakers at the summit also stressed the need to involve small and medium enterprises, who contribute significantly to employment generation and exports, in CSR.

N Ram, editor-in-chief, The Hindu, in his address said that India's high level economic growth had not yielded positive results on the social development front. "Despite the 9 per cent GDP growth, we have not improved on several development indices such as healthcare and education," Ram said.

Stressing the need for a change of mindset and policy environment, Ram cited the example of Chile which was able to increase its per capita income through sectoral policies in health and education, social development policies offering subsidies to vulnerable groups.

He said education is the elementary resource of all modern society, but with the exception of a few states, there was no law to make primary education compulsory. He also appealed to the industry to adopt schools as part of their CSR programmes.