GROWING ENTERPRISES IN A TIME-TESTED INDIAN WAY

SOME accomplished chief financial officers of established companies like Tata Consultancy, Tata Chemicals and KPMG set up a think tank as a body that would engage with relevant audiences—India Inc, regulators, administrators—to create and nurture better-governed enterprises.

- R GOPALAKRISHNAN

After all, CFOs have a strong C-suite role and influence on enterprise promotion and development. I recently participated in a CFO Board event.

CFOs have a crucial role in nurturing ‘enlightened capitalism’ in their companies. Enlightened capitalism enterprises meet four criteria: (i) they are respected and loved (try to list a score in India), (ii) they are focused on longevity as an effectiveness marker while protecting economic efficiency, (iii) they create shared wealth for stakeholders rather than create endless pink-paper controversies, (iv) they act to be long-living enterprises.

Examples are well-known giants like TVS, Murugappa, Godrej, Tata, Bajaj. Or lesser-known companies, who act as ‘small giants’—medium in size, but giants in nurturing community-oriented, ethical practices, such as PSG of Coimbatore, Nalli of Chennai and Malayala Manorama of Kerala.

There is nothing novel about ‘enlightened capitalism’, nor is the expression an oxymoron. Indeed, it has been an essential component of traditional Indian trading companies for centuries. Illustratively, think of Kutchi Bhatias, Memons, Marwaris, Shikarpuris, Chettiars—each have a strong trading tradition as well as a record of generous merchant charity. Even in the Sangam period, the generosity of traders has been described in works like the Silapathikaram. I refer to this as the ‘Indian way’—part of a wider eastern tradition of doing business.