India Inc must give ‘Bharat’ a seat in boardrooms

Not too long ago, at a roundtable for independent directors, a business leader passionately held forth on the 'Bharat agenda'. The gathering explained the shift in demand patterns, how tier-2 and -3 cities are driving consumption, and how companies must rethink their strategies for the next decade.

When they finished speaking about new customer behaviours, rise of mid- market competitors, and how board oversight on strategy and operations must evolve to reflect these realities, another director asked: 'How many of our boards have given a seat to Bharat?'



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Bharat has become a corporate buzzword. It is central to strategy conversations, but absent from the boardrooms where strategy is approved. Bharat banking is in focus, consumer companies emphasise on rural and semi-urban expansion, and new-age tech firms pitch themselves as 'Bharat-First'.

This narrative is compelling and real because Bharat is where the next 500 mn customers live. It is where digital payments are rapidly growing, and services such as mobility, healthcare, education, retail and finance are experiencing explosive adoption.

However, this narrative is still 'external'. Boardrooms of India Inc are still dominated by former corporate executives, ex-bankers, lawyers, former consultants and retired bureaucrats, and investor nominees, mostly hailing from tier-1 cities.

Of course, their credibility precedes them, but few of them have lived experience of the Bharat markets that companies are betting on for their growth. Even when regulators, such as RBI, intervene by mandating MSME or agricultural expertise on bank boards, the role often becomes a compliance tick-box rather than a strategic capability.

The first step to overcome the disconnect between Bharat and boardrooms is acknowledgement. In these markets, consumers follow cultural logic, not urban assumptions, and understanding this is crucial. Price sensitivity, family influence and product format preferences differ significantly from those of metro customers.

Cash flow volatility, informal credit and how businesses absorb shocks without capital buffers, as well as reliance on relationships, redefine risk in tier-2/3 cities in India. Trust towards a distributor trumps campaign. Operating models are more frugal and resilient. Businesses innovate out of necessity and build efficiency without excess capital.

Without acknowledging uniqueness of Bharat markets, boards might approve strategies that appear compelling on paper but are not grounded in reality.

Including Bharat in governance is about strategic survival and competitive advantage. For example, a director who has built a business in a tier 2/3 city brings ground-level realism, mid-market consumer insights, knowledge of how trust and money flow in semi-urban India, and the ability to sense risks long before dashboards detect them. This perspective is no longer 'nice to have' but a must.

Just as boards seek digital, financial and legal expertise in their composition, they must also include skills such as an understanding of MSME operations, non-metro consumer behaviour, supply chain depth in regional markets, and experience scaling businesses outside metros. Board off-sites should move beyond retreats to actual markets. They should use these retreats to listen to customers, walk the markets, and understand how this market spends, borrows and trusts.

Boards should appoint at least one director with credible experience operating in tier-2/3 cities. These should not be token roles or regulatory afterthoughts, but leaders who represent the Bharat markets. It may also be advisable to establish a Bharat Advisory Council, a rotating panel of mid-market entrepreneurs, distributors, business owners in semi-urban areas, and sector specialists who provide quarterly briefings to the board. This brings unfiltered ground intelligence.


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Today, every boardroom claims to be preparing for Bharat but few are walking the talk. The companies that will lead India's next decade of growth will be those whose boardrooms have the gender, regional, ethical and cognitive diversity to reflect the country they aim to serve.

It is time to give Bharat its rightful place in the boardroom. Not as a symbolic gesture but as a strategic move.

Goradia is chairperson, and Berera is partner, Deloitte South Asia