In mid-May, ITC Chairman and Managing Director Sanjiv Puri took over as president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) for 2024-25. Mr Puri, the head of India’s leading consumer goods company, is taking charge of the country’s oldest industry association at a very crucial time.

India is the fastest-growing major economy in the world. Yet, the country is battered by several pressing problems. The country’s spectacular over 8 per cent expansion of the economy is unfortunately marred by unequal growth, rampant joblessness, falling income and surging inflation. The organised sector and a substantial portion of the population have been enjoying the fruits of economic growth. But sadly, a larger section of Indians, especially in rural areas, and the vast unorganised sector are in pain. The government apart, trade bodies, like CII, will have to be in the forefront of any solutions for the country’s prickly woes.

In a series of interviews to the media recently, Mr Puri articulated his views as CII chief on urgent measures needed to correct various imbalances in the economy. The Union government should maintain its focus on public infrastructure, especially by allocating a significant portion of capital expenditure (capex) for developing rural infrastructure. Continuous focus and expenditure on rural housing, farm infrastructure, warehousing and other physical infrastructure can spur much-needed rural consumption and recharge the economy, noted 61-year-old Mr Puri.

Any views from CII and its chief are taken quite seriously by the country and its policymakers. The trade body – set up a long time ago in 1895 and now in its 130^th year of operation – boasts of around 9,000 members from private as well as public sectors, including small and medium enterprises and multinational companies. Besides, it has an indirect membership of over 3,65,000 enterprises from 294 national and regional sectoral industry bodies. So, it is not surprising if India listens to what CII has to say.    

CII has been playing a transformative role in shaping the future of India. The trade body’s dedicated centres of excellence and industry initiatives have been promoting competitiveness, innovation, adoption of new technologies and sustainable growth. It will now have to double up in partnership with the government, civil society and other trade and industry associations to upskill a vast section of the country’s workforce and provide meaningful and remunerative employment opportunities.  

Incidentally, Mr Puri’s rich experience as the chairman of over Rs 70,000-crore ITC puts him in a very favourable position to push through CII’s initiatives successfully. An alumnus of IIT Kanpur and Wharton School of Business in the US, Mr Puri has been associated with ITC since 1986. Mr Puri and his team have been instrumental in spearheading the rapid growth of the diverse conglomerate with business interests as varied as tobacco, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), agribusiness, hotels, paperboard and packaging and information technology.  

It would not be an exaggeration to liken ITC to a mini-Indian economy, given the company’s presence in so many diverse sectors. Mr Puri already has the blueprint that put ITC on the fast track of growth. As CII chief, he will now have to expand this blueprint on a much larger size and scale and partner with many other stakeholders for a stronger, brighter and more equitable India.