Value creation must couple with social duty

Bangalore, Mar 23: Good governance demands adherence of social responsibility coupled with creation of value in the larger interest of the people and the country, ITC Limited Chairman Y C Deveshwar said today.

''Mere creation of value for stakeholders may not help in long run as, since we are integral part of the society and have a responsibility'' he said delivering a talk on ''A Chairman's View of the Boardroom'' organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) as part of its 'CII Governance Series Session'.

''There is a market for financial return and for rewarding shareholders, but one should know that we are integral part of the society'', he added.

Mr Deveshwar said in an emerging economy more forces were now getting managed by private hands and the country had witnessed Nine per cent growth and it was expected to touch double digit in the next plan period.

He said India housed 17 per cent of the world population but availability of land was only two per cent and that of water was only four per cent. He said ''So you can visualise that everybody in India has gone private for economic growth. But we have sense of empty not only financially but quality of life generally. You should plan to take full benefit of natural resource available and to maintain sustainable growth'', he added.

Expressing his full satisfaction on the functioning of his company, Mr Deveshwar stressed the need for empowerment to maintain transparency in the company's functioning. There should be high degree of empowerment and at the same time accountability. ''There should be freedom for management but it should be attached with accountability'', he added.

UNI