The CII President Sunil Bharti Mittal has said the PM's advice to the industry to refrain from ostentatious expenditure has gone down well among India Inc.
NEW DELHI: The newly-elected CII President Sunil Bharti Mittal has said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's advice to the industry to refrain from ostentatious expenditure has gone down well among India Inc, which needs to become "more responsible" toward the society.
"He (Prime Minister) has raised a good point and the message has gone down well in the industry," Mittal said.
Indian corporates need to become more responsible and "if the Prime Minister is asking them to do that, there is no harm", he said.
Mittal, however, was against any coercive act or law to enforce corporate social responsibility but said if the big corporations tend to undue influence the markets, then government intervention is justified.
"The markets will bring down the companies which do not have a responsible character...their products and services will suffer. Companies which are seen as brute machines, eventually start losing ground in the market place because the customers and society will punish them".
CII, which has been working on affirmative action for the SCs and STs in terms of their employment, would work on implementing the code of conduct in this direction.
"Dr J J Irani (who headed the CII committee on affirmative action), is going to work with me for one more year," Mittal said.
The new CII chief said the Prime Minister's remarks on the CEOs salaries were being debated more in media and not in the industry.
The Prime Minister in his address at CII annual meet had said the industry must resist excessive salaries to promoters and senior executives and discourage conspicuous consumption.
Mittal said the Prime Minister was supporting the continued growth of the industry but wanted it to support the government in meeting growing aspirations of the people.
Asked if there should be a discussion on CEOs salaries in the context of economic inequalities, the CII chief said: "Absolutely, the debate should be there. Even in America which is a hardcore capitalist society, this debate is going on."
Mittal, whose Bharti Group has been showing a lot of interest in the country's agro economy, said a right balance has to be struck between the interest of farmers whose land was acquired for industrial purposes and businesses.
"You cannot stop industrialisation but the interest of people whose land is acquired has to be kept in mind and seen that there is no pain in the process."
Expressing concern over the rising cost of money, Mittal listed high interest rates and inflation as the downside risks to the economic growth. It is in this context the CII was not projecting a double digit growth but a GDP increase of 9.2 per cent in 2007-08.
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