We are today living in a world where change is happening at an unprecedented pace, and even the magnitude of uncertainty is unprecedented, said Sanjiv Puri, Chairman, ITC Limited while addressing students at IIM Udaipur’s Annual Convocation, as its chief guest. “This is the beginning of a new era, a new journey of change, which is going to be driven by digital and sustainability and layered on that is going to be the dynamics of the geopolitics, as we are all witnessing,” he said.
The IIT Kanpur alumni, encouraged the students to pursue their passion with the right values. “Be sensitive to the planet, be sensitive to the people you work with. In India, there are a lot of challenges along with immense growth opportunities. You have the opportunity to make the responsible choice and pursue something that interests you. When you do that, you’ll do that with passion and perseverance, and you will make a lot more difference to society,” Puri concluded.
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Urging students to be future-ready, Puri said, “Find solution to the ups and downs, to the difficulties you face and do not get stuck with the glass that is half empty. Look at the glass that is half full. When you approach this way with passion and persistence solutions will come.”
Given the changing world, the key imperative today is to course change and transform, he said. Addressing the students Puri said, “You need to first create a desire among people to change. You need to empower them, skill them, and give them the resources. Lastly, you need to align them to a goal and a purpose. That’s what we did, and the results were dramatic.”
Illustrating ITC’s experience, he said that just before the first lockdown, the company was working with over two lakh farmers to empower them to double their incomes. Due to restrictions on movement, the training faced challenges and overnight, the exercise was pivoted to digital. The ITC Chairman recalled how the team was unsure whether it would work, as they had not followed a digital-only strategy before, and that too with the farmers.
“To our surprise, the absorption rate and the uptake was phenomenal. When we did the assessment, we realized that we had accomplished our target improving the farm income by 60 per cent. I am giving you this example to show you how ready ‘Bharat’ is for digital. This strengthens my conviction that the change that we are seeing today in digital is only the beginning,” Puri said.
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Highlighting the significance of sustainability, the ITC chief said that the very existence of our planet is under threat due to climate change. There is a forecast that by 2030, 20 of the top 30 cities in India will not have enough groundwater if global warming continues at this rate. This can be a very serious crisis, he said. “Businesses, as large economic organs of society, need to do their bit in combating this crisis. In fact, in my view, now is the right time for the corporates to embed society value-creation at the core of their business strategies, he said.”
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