Why Corporate Social Responsibility? Kiran Bedi Speaks

Corporates must be the biggest givers. They are not generators but givers. Because, givers will become generators. It is in our interest of being consumers, because it is they who create better consumers. A better consumer means better purchasing power, and better purchasing power means better business for corporates.

Already, India is on GDP of this kind, because we are a major market ourselves. In fact, India survived because it is a market by itself. We still have half of India waiting to become another market. By 2030 we would have added another 30 to 40 million people and would be almost one and a half billion by then. That means, India would have generated much more consumers, and we are creating another wealth of youth consumers.

It is in the interest of every corporate to strengthen and reach out to the youth. Because, if they take them out of the poverty line and make then educated and enabled, they would be the biggest consumer and a quality consumer. That’s when they consume what the corporate produce. So, it is in our interest. It is a very positive cycle— a corporate creates a consumer through corporate social responsibility, and thus a consumer will demand for a corporate. It is a two way process.