Nestlé Chief Executive Officer Paul Bulcke has highlighted how businesses can contribute to boosting sustainable economic growth in India during a discussion at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in New Delhi.
Mr Bulcke, co-chair of the WEF in India, discussed what should be done to encourage policy reforms with leading industry experts from India.
The session called for action from businesses, government and civil society on how to do this.
Mr Bulcke was joined by panellists Rahul Bajaj, Chairman of Bajaj Auto; Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chief Executive Officer of Tata Consultancy Services; Gita Gopinath, of the Global Agenda Council on the International Monetary System and Chanda Kochhar, Managing Director for ICICI Bank in India.
The session was moderated by Shekhar Gupta of the Global Agenda Council on India.
Summit on water
On November 6 ahead of the formal event opening, Nestlé Chairman Peter Brabeck-Letmathe chaired a discussion on the challenge of water management in India organised by the WEF.
He outlined how the increasing need for food, generating energy for industrial and municipal use, and inefficient water usage is impacting on India’s water availability.
Mr Brabeck-Letmathe also highlighted a recent water study focusing on 27 industry sectors in India, led by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Columbia Water Center (CWC).
Results revealed that nearly 90% of Indian companies surveyed believe that water supply limitations will affect their business within the next decade.
To combat the problem Mr Brabeck-Letmathe said that companies should assess the different levels of water scarcity and develop concrete strategies for individual watersheds.
“Various governmental and non-governmental organisations, industry associations and academic institutions need to build a multi-stakeholder platform where they can agree on water issues and develop partnerships to face the shared goal of improving water management,” he said.
Water challenge
During the session Mr Brabeck-Letmathe participated in a discussion to focus on how the 2030 Water Resources Group (WRG) is helping governments like Karnataka in India to tackle the global water challenge.
The WRG is a public-private initiative that provides guidance and new policy ideas on water resource scarcity.
Nestlé is part of the group working alongside other corporate members and governmental development agencies such as the Inter-American Development Bank and the World Bank Group.
Mr Brabeck-Letmathe, Chairman of the WRG, believes that the development of fact based, comprehensive approaches to local water management can help all stakeholders make better decisions.
World Economic Forum in India
More than 2,500 international leaders from business, government and civil society will attend this year’s two day summit event which focuses on the theme ‘From Deliberation to Transformation’.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login