The legend — 'Improving the quality of life' — derives meaning from a heritage of doing business for a wider purpose, writes Kishor Chaukar, member of GCC, and managing director, Tata Industries

An important part of my life, much before I joined the Tata Group, was spent working in the NGO sector. I was with the Bharatiya Agro Industries Foundation, a public trust engaged in rural development, and our aim was to create remunerative employment potential for the rural poor, especially landless labourers. Living and working in the villages of India, I acquired first-hand knowledge of the way 80 per cent of our people live and work and the dynamics of rural society.

I saw the huge gap between the rich and the poor, and came to understand why the many schemes to reduce this gap never seemed to make any difference. These facts are well understood today when we have realised the importance of sustainable development, but in the era of top-driven, doctrinaire orientation to development, these learnings were my first rub with reality.

During those days, I came across well staffed agricultural extension centres totally devoid of eager farmers; I saw irrigation canals without any water in them even though the reservoirs had plenty of water; and I pondered over the paradox of some schools with no teachers, and others with several teachers but no students.

Meeting and chatting with the potential beneficiaries of these extension centres, canals and schools, I realised that the poor are no doubt poor, but they are not stupid. They knew that a sugarcane specialist was not of much help on an onion field and that the tail-end of canals seldom received water because farmers near the dams over-irrigated their land, leaving very little for downstream users. They also knew that sending their children to school would mean there was no one to fetch water from far-off streams and wells, or collect firewood, or look after the younger siblings at home.

Interestingly enough, I also saw these same people participating with enthusiasm in developmental programmes which made use of their own skills in agriculture, or of their meagre assets like cattle, goats, poultry, or of their free time after they had done the day’s bidding. They were willing to work; they desired a better quality of life and knew pretty well who and what could benefit them and who or what benefited vested interests. I learned these lessons the hard way, through actual observation and experience, over the last couple of decades.

It is truly amazing that this wisdom has existed in the House of Tata for more than a hundred years. Jamsetji Tata propounded sustainable development long before the term was coined, and set the foundation for a
business empire that has been ploughing back its profits to the people in ways that actually bring a sustainable change for the better in their lives.

The Tata Group has pioneered businesses and helped build economic prosperity for the nation while generating substantive remunerative — as opposed to exploitative — employment, while providing trustworthy goods and services. Noticeably, a lot of this has been done decades before these became a fashion or even legal requirements. It has helped in harvesting water where water was needed; in extending health and hygiene where it was lacking; in launching programmes for protecting and conserving the
environment where it was threatened; in building premier institutes of higher learning, in developing computer-aided adult literacy programmes and supporting initiatives for bringing education to children who couldn’t afford it. In each case, the need has been properly identified and correctly addressed.

This approach is not restricted to the community initiatives; it embraces the Group’s business initiatives too. Group Chairman Ratan Tata’s decision to design the Rs-one-lakh car, for instance, was inspired by a desire to provide better protection and comfort to those families who have to travel on a scooter with their children in all kinds of weather because they can’t afford a four-wheeler. Tata companies are committed to designing and making quality products and services that enrich the lives of ordinary people in myriad ways.

The legend inscribed below the Tata marque, “Improving the quality of life” derives meaning from this heritage of doing business for a wider purpose
than merely making profits. What does it really mean? Whose life are we improving and how?

The full form of this phrase is “Improving the quality of life of the communities we serve.” The communities we serve encompass, in concentric as well as overlapping circles, our employees, vendors, business partners, shareholders, customers, the population that lives in the areas we have our plants and offices in, the people and society of the countries we operate in, and so on, extending to the whole of human society.

We “improve the quality of life”, first and foremost, by being honest and ethical and transparent in all our business dealings. You can’t do good or serve the community by crooked means. People have to trust you before they buy your products and services or participate in any social development programmes you initiate.

We improve the quality of life by operating in sectors of national importance — steel, power, transport, telecom — areas that contribute to economic growth and prosperity. The Tata Group has played a crucial and pioneering role in nation-building, consciously choosing businesses that build the foundations of our economy and lead to longterm growth.

We improve the quality of life by pursuing excellence in all we do and constantly improving and ensuring the quality of our goods and services. The Tata name inspires confidence and trust — a trust earned through a
century of commitment to the highest standards of quality. We are determined not to betray this trust.

We improve the quality of life by using the resources — human and environmental — we need for generating wealth, carefully and responsibly. By giving back to the people the profits we make by using these resources — multiplied several times over.

We do this through the Tata Trusts and the Tata Council of Community Initiatives, which invest the profits of the Group in programmes and activities promoting sustainable improvement in the health and well-being of society.

Through a century and more of leadership with trust, the Tata Group has proved that “Improving the quality of life” is not just a pious-sounding slogan but a deep commitment to the highest values and ethics in day-to-day corporate behaviour and decision-making.

Uploaded in August, 2007