The powerful role of business in India’s development cannot be denied. In fact, the story of India’s businesses has always been closely intertwined with the country’s socio-economic history. For instance, during the Tata Group’s 150-year existence it has played a key role in developing the heavy manufacturing and industrial sector in India. Examples of this include steel production in Jamshedpur and Tata Airlines (which went on to become Air India). In 1944, three years before Independence, a group of eminent industrialists that included JRD Tata, GD Birla, Lala Shri Ram, and economists such as John Mathai and Ardeshir Dalal came out with the Bombay Plan that laid the foundations of the first two Five-Year Plans India adopted for its economic development.

More recently, the philanthropic contributions of organizations towards COVID-19 relief—Tata Sons along with Tata Trusts (INR 1,500 crores), Wipro along with Azim Premji Foundation (INR 1,125 crores), and Aditya Birla Group 1 (INR 500 crores)—continue this legacy of businesses contributing to societal development. Importantly, this is not just through philanthropy but also through business practice.

Now more than ever, given the COVID-19 crisis, we need companies to step up, and lead the charge on ‘building back better’. In this moment of transition lies a chance for businesses across every state to reimagine their purpose and role in creating the ‘new normal’ that we need to see. We suggest five points to consider:

  1. Address the plight of migrant and informal workers
  2. Safeguard, and even uplift, regulatory norms, and standards
  3. (Re)build trust in your workforce
  4. Invest in improving the environment
  5. Use your organizational voice to push for transformative action

Read the full article about ideas for CSR efforts in India by Anna Warrington and Hansika Singh at India Development Review.