1

Summary Report: Making Business a force for Good, remain Competitive & Engaged

On 29th May 2018, IIMB- CCGC1 in cooperation with twentyfifty Ltd.2 organised a panel discussion on ‘Making Business a force for Good, remain Competitive and Engaged’. The objective was to ascertaining the current status as to how companies are sensitised towards Human Rights in alignment with the UN Guiding Principles (UNGPs), whilst simultaneously giving a realistic picture of how Corporate India is handling CSR. The National Voluntary Guidelines (NVGs) do encompass Business and Human Rights and more so now as they are being revised this year.

Distinguished speakers:

• P. Radhamanalan -Head of Plain Gold Jewellery Manufacturing at Titan • P.S. Narayan- Vice President, Head of Sustainability at Wipro Ltd • Jitendra Chaddah- leads strategy and operations for Intel India • Gopinath Parakuni- General Secretary of Cividep • Prof. Vasanthi Srinivasan (IIM-B: HR & OB Area) • Manoj Chakravarti- COO at the Centre for Corporate Governance and Citizenship at IIMB • Rishi Sher Singh (moderator)- specialist in Business & Human Rights from twentyfifty Ltd

Key take away:

• 98% versus 2% of profits: o There is a changing role of corporate sector in India. CSR has been widely adopted by

businesses, however the Human Rights discourse remains weak. o There is excessive subscription to CSR and ‘cherry picking’ of SDGs, which is taking the focus

away from ethical and responsible business behaviour. Business should use a strategic approach towards understanding business impact and respecting Human Rights.

o Decent working conditions is still a challenge in many supply chains. India continues to face chronic Human Rights issues such as modern day slavery, child labour, discrimination and harassment. Thus, there is a need to look beyond CSR priorities. It is imperative that companies examine their own supply chain and ecosystem, before they take any steps towards CSR (outside their own firm).

o Businesses respond swiftly to legal requirements, however, this creates a compliance mindset, reduced effectiveness and increases costs. There is also corporate influence on law, thus skewing some legal requirements to benefit a small group.

o Responsible Business practices have numerous benefits to Corporate India i.e. de-risking the value chains, operation excellence, cost reduction and tapping into responsible

1 www.teachcsr.com 2 www.twentyfifty.co.uk

2

Summary Report: Making Business a force for Good, remain Competitive & Engaged

investor groups. This also positions India as the top destination for manufacturing & services (Make In India) and increases investor confidence.

o Scope of CSR should be expanded to cover Human Rights Due Diligence in the value chains. There is a need of increased focus on how profits are earned in the first place (company operations and supply chain impacts), rather than how profits are spent in CSR. A company cannot claim to be making positive impacts only through CSR programmes, without any inward reflection and actions.

• Need for capacity building: o Supply chain, including SMEs, need hand holding and support from large corporations. o Business & Human Rights can make advancement by using a risk management approach,

reducing negative impacts and increasing the positive ones. o Responsible Business Practices needs to be part of every business function, redesign and

rethinking is required to create positive impacts. o Business enabler identified- consumer behaviour, technology (AI, Blockchains, etc.),

changing mindsets and increasing brand value through responsible business practices. o Need for increased capacity and engagement of National Human Rights institutions

(NHRC), regulators and monitoring agencies. o Impacts of CSR initiatives should be monitored and there should be strict penalties on

companies not demonstrating positive impacts.

• Demystifying Business & Human Rights: o Need for education on Responsible Business practices at all levels in business. Academic

institutions play an important role in raising citizen awareness and enabling business action through systematic learning programmes.

o Decision makers in businesses (board, investors) need sensitization on B&HR o New employee induction should include principles of Responsible Business practices.

Path forward:

• Businesses should do a Self-assessment of its Human Rights impacts in the value chain by using available tools (I.e. developed by NHRC3, twentyfifty4 and others)

• Need for Human Rights Index for businesses to measure performance in a transparent manner. • Business should use a Due Diligence approach for mitigating negative impacts in the value chains.

Outputs of the Due Diligence provides valuable insights for business strategy and prioritisation.

Ongoing debate:

• Do we need more laws or business action to advance Responsible Business practices in India?

This is building in the

3 http://nhrc.nic.in/ 4 http://twentyfifty.blob.core.windows.net/media/1165/5-steps-managing-the-human-rights-211015.pdf