‘Accountability, openness must for inclusive growth’

NEW DELHI: The private sector has a transformational role to play in inclusive growth, said HCC chairman and MD Ajit Gulabchand on Sunday.

Mr Gulabchand, who was among the panellists discussing ‘The Business Imperative for Inclusion’ during the India Economic Summit being held in the Capital added that private sector needs to understand that they are now expected by the society to play a role that goes beyond the role for which their business was created.

The other panellists in the discussion were Telenor Group president & CEO Jon Fredrik Baksaas, DuPont CEO Ellen Kullman, PwC International chairman Dennis Nally, Hero Honda MD & CEO Pawan Munjal, National Chemical Laboratory president Raghunath Mashelkar and Aajeevika ED Rajiv Khandelwal.

The panel was unanimous that glitches in education and skills development were major hurdles to India’s inclusive growth. Mr Gulabchand also said the government has a key role to play in inclusive growth, as well as in healthcare, to allow India’s emerging workforce to be confident and successful.

They further pointed out that transparency, accountability and openness are key imperatives for inclusive growth, as they engender the trust and co-operation required among different stakeholders. “Weeding out corruption is important if India needs to achieve inclusion,” said Dr Mashelkar. He further added that the Universal ID (UID) card system will make a huge difference in the process of inclusion.

Mr Baksaas and Ms Kullman both supported technology to get the desired reach for inclusive growth, while Mr Nally said that various stakeholders have to work collectively to achieve inclusion.

“Agriculture is one example — better partnerships can help technology have more impact, as well as improve delivery of crops to market,” Ms Kullman said.

According to Mr Munjal, taking industry to new places creates employment, which leads to inclusive growth. “Governance and creating the right distribution system can help achieve the objective of inclusion,” he added.