A New Corporate Model – Concern, Competence and Compassion

 Asoke K. Laha
President & MD, Interra IT

Several important events took place during the month of September this year. The first and foremost is Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US and his meeting with President Barak Obama. The high-profile meetings with businessmen, people of Indian origin and several dignitaries had earned him the ubiquitous name – rock star. There may be difference in perception about the outcome of the high-profile meetings and its economic impact. But nobody can deny that this visit of the Prime Minister to the US has created unprecedented media glare, going by the reports emanating from the US. What has struck me most was the statement made by Mr Modi that Indians have started playing with mouse – and not with snakes and elephants.

That went well with the leaps India has made in information technology.

At a lesser note, there was an event in my personal and professional life: I have become the National President of the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC), a 46-year old binational body having regional offices and chapters across India. It is a business association exclusively dedicated to the promotion of economic engagement between India and the US.
I am emboldened to dwell on this aspect mainly on account of the fact that I am penning this piece on October 2, the birthday of Mahatma Gandhi, who propounded the theory of trusteeship. Many will argue that Gandhi’s fame and name are confined to India and that too to the generations, which can recall him. For those who are born in the 1970s or later, Gandhi is only folklore to be read and learnt in the schools. That is far from the truth. Gandhi has an appeal cutting across geographies, cultures, generations and races. I was pleasantly surprised when the US President in his autobiography titled “Dreams from My Father” has mentioned Gandhi several times. That name has become synonymous for persons who are upright and take stands based on principles.

It is interesting to focus on what should be the future action for the state and the business for the next few decades. A simplistic view is that the state should provide a better governance and the business should generate wealth and adhere to the norms to share that wealth with the fellow beings.

Somewhere down the line, the state became conscious of the atrocities perpetrated on the less fortunate and started framing laws for protecting their interests. New international forums and institutions had sprung up not only to restrain the states from encroaching into other’s space but also to provide for orderly life for citizens. Evolution of multilateral organizations like the United Nations, Human Rights Commissions, etc are the direct result of a collective thought to create structures for peaceful coexistence of the states and the people.

Of late, we are hearing about affirmative action, corporate social responsibility et al. I believe that these phraseologies have a positive spin to orient our approach towards our fellow beings. Two such things have struck my mind. One is the financial inclusion scheme which has been rolled out titled “Jan Dhan Scheme” and the other is Swachch Bharat, a scheme to grind the values of cleanliness and safe living for the common man. I am not entering into a debate as to whether this scheme is new or what.

In IACC, recently we had the unique distinction of discussing about the financial inclusion threadbare at two events, inviting representatives of industry, government, financial institutions and civil society. Bereft of its details, the scheme proposes to open a bank account for the unbanked underprivileged people across the country. There are some incentives attached to every household who are brought into the net, such as accident insurance of up to Rs.100,000 and an overdraft facility of Rs.5,000 for every household. At a later stage, the scheme proposes to add on more benefits to the household in terms of micro insurance and specific cash transfers to their accounts. What fascinated me is the not the benefit per se but its modus operandi. The account will be operated through a debit card, which will have biometric markings to avoid any misuse. The bank transactions will be communicated to the account-holder through mobile texting, which will help the people in far-flung areas and they need not have to visit the banks to conclude their transactions.

Here, I believe, three elements are combining together to embellish the quality of life of the common man. One is the government support; two is the technology such as mobile telephones; and third is the industry participation in making the people financially literate. Industry can do much more than a mere facilitator. It can devise several packages for income generation by the target group. Micro-industries, which the account-holder sets up availing the overdraft facilities, can manufacture components and intermediate products needed by the industry. This will help in ensuring a steady income for the underprivileged.

Such models have macro connotations also. We have across the world close-to seven billion people. Of these, more than three-fourths of the people live in developing countries of Asia, Africa, Latin America and East Europe. These countries are known for heavy backlog of unemployment and destitution. Could there be a model worked out by a multilateral body such as World Bank or IMF that can coordinate such activities on a global scale. There will be many corporations that are willing to support such schemes. For instance, recently Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation offered its support for the financial inclusion scheme in India. They have also committed huge funds for other activities across the world such as AIDS control, income- generating activities, etc. Similarly, a lot of Indian corporations have come forward to help the government to make financial inclusion a huge success.

Swachch Bharat is another project that can bring huge dividends to the society. These should not remain as a mere rhetoric and have to be planned in the most scientific manner. Over the next five years, the Government is likely to spend close-to Rs.2 lakh crore for the clean India, which involves recycling of waste, bringing water to the problem villages, linking water sources, cleaning up of water bodies, manufacture and innovation of technologies, etc. There is a strong business content in this.  Are we prepared to tap that source in a meaningful manner?

I always add an IT spin to all my columns. Let me do that also here. We are now embarking on financial inclusion on a grand scale. What has enabled us to do that: it is information technology. Financial inclusion is crafted on the platform provided by Aadhaar, which is nothing but collation of data of all citizens at its retrieval at the click of a button. Every account-holder will be an Aadhaar-listed person and the benefits will flow only to them. How we are going to ensure Swachch Bharat? There will be heavy intermediation technology, data collection, analysis and, most importantly, surveillance of waste and its accumulation through drones.

Friends, it is only the beginning and there will be many schemes that will keep coming based on information technology. We have to implement them not alone for profit but with compassion and competence. That is the new business model I am talking about.