Monday, November 06, 2006

...the single most important thing to impact business in India!!

In July '06, Knowledge@Wharton carried an in interview with KV Kamath, CEO ICICI Bank - India's 2nd largest bank, and the largest private-sector bank. The inteview was about ICICI Bank's rural foray...

The last question & answer in the interview:
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Question: As you look ahead over five years, many things can go wrong. What do you most fear in the Indian economy and the global economy that could derail your plans?

Kamath: I guess in the Indian context, I would say something that is unforeseen, like social strife, because we are living in a world of haves and have nots. And there is a divide. Now is this going to be something that could bother us? To me, this is the single most important thing which could impact business.
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... needless to say, this was a hopeful comment - finally someone from this side acknowledged the ground realities of the 'other side'....

5 comments:

Prometheus_Unbound said...

Finally, someone from the establishment acknowledges this. Wonder how long before we actually get cracking on this.

madhukar said...

Rex

I hope that sooner or later, this will become a 'reality' to contend with...

inteestingly, even McKinsey Quaterly has stated coming up with aticles like When social issues become strategic, and What is the business of business...

being an optimist, I guess this will change the directions
;)

shikha said...

Yes Madhukar..Corporations cannot shy away any more...

The fact that Mckinsey is writing on the same shows the thrust that the world today is giving to ths issue..though i wonder that if these consultants will come up with something productive.

having said that more imprtant than "what is being said, is "who is saying it." and hence it good news for a country like India thatMckinsey is addressing topics like these.

We as a country, need it more than any other country in the world, with the economic growth that we have,the population that we have, the form of government that we have...the divide is only going to increase with time, we better address it in time!!

and the best way to do the same is to just ensure that wehn growth happens it is not by "expoliting the other, and making use of the loop holes of the laws etc."

madhukar said...

Shikha,

There are at least some low-intensity trends that look positive in terms of the business moving into new direction.

On my other blog, I had made a posting about some of these trends on Why business will move beyond business...

I am sure there will be many other similar imperatives which will 'force' businesses to think of wealth-creation as something more than making profits

shikha said...

Madhukar,

Have tried linking Reliance Retail and this problem on my blog.

www.shikhapofali.blogspot.com