Think beyond profit: Minister to corporates

MADURAI: Corporate houses should think beyond profit and dividends and base their decisions on the immediate and long-term social and environmental consequences of their activities, Union Minister of State for Law and Justice K Venkatapathy on Friday said.

Participating in the 33rd conference of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India here, he said according to the emerging concept of corporate social responsibility, companies had an obligation to consider the impact of their obligations not only on shareholders but also on customers, employees, community and ecology. "Only this will lead to sustainable growth."

He said the ability to produce high-value products and services would depend on the creation and strengthening of regional clusters of industries like in Madurai and making them hubs of innovations.

Venkatapathy said the clusters could enhance productivity and spur innovation by bringing technology, specialised talent, competing companies and academic institutions together.

Claiming that when the transformation into a tri-polar world economy was completed by 2035, Indian Economy would only be a little smaller than the US economy, he said India would emerge as a larger growth driver than the six largest countries in the European Union.

However, as India prepared itself to become an economic super power, it must expedite socio-economic reforms and take steps for overcoming institutional and infrastructure bottlenecks inherent in the system, he said.