Glimpses of the vision from Ajay Piramal

Mr. Ajay Piramal is one of India’s leading industrialists and philanthropists. He is the Chairman of the Piramal Group. Mr. Piramal is regarded as a torchbearer for responsible entrepreneurship, with a strong focus on ‘Doing Well and Doing Good’, a philosophy that has created long-term value for the Group’s stakeholders and the community as a whole.

To define Conscious Capitalism, he looks at capital as a Trust and broke down as below:

• Settler – One who begins the trust putting the first asset
• Trust – The capital itself
• Trustee – The board helping to run the business, major decision makers.
• Beneficiaries or
  1. the share holders
  2. the customers
  3. the employees

Every capitalist is a trustee, and the trust that is formed like this is for the society. He called the capital thus generated the oxygen for doing good.

He emphasised that unlike in the past, today the world is getting more level playing field. More and more new entrepreneurs are entering the business world without having any similar background or heritage. Number of Unicorns even in the startup market is on rising. However, he agrees that the wealth distribution is not balanced around the world and a solution should come out.

When his family business was grappling with a textile strike the inevitable happened. In 1979, within a matter of 30 seconds his father died in New York. His brother too passed away at the age of 34 years. Suddenly he found himself as caretaker of the entire Group. However he always lived with the foundation of compassion and values, as mentioned by Radhanath Swami ji.

So from where do, we draw the examples of Conscious Capitalism?

Mr. Piramal mentions how Bill Gates pledged his wealth for doing good, and lot of people from India are also in the same boat so it will be unfair to say there is no existence of Conscious Capitalism in today’s world. One cannot do good without capital.

How do you expect government to run the reforms?

Government is working with the taxes the citizens paying, who are these tax payers? The same capitalists. It is important to recognize that to do go capital is required.

Life is like an ECG, with waves, the ups and downs, the day the ECG is flat it’s the end.

The complete discussion is available on Gyanalogy Youtube

Ajay Piramal is one of India’s leading industrialists and philanthropists, and Chairman of the Piramal Group. The Piramal Group is a global business conglomerate with diverse interests in pharmaceuticals, financial services, real estate and glass packaging, with offices in 30 countries and its products sold in more than 100 markets.

A firm believer in the tenets of the Bhagavat Gita, Mr. Piramal is a passionate advocate of trusteeship and responsible business ethos. During the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Piramal made significant contributions to various governments and local bodies, and provided ~27 Million meals to the underprivileged and underserved communities across India, via several Foundations including Annamrita and A.T.E. Chandra.

Contributor: Paromita Bannerjee - Paromita is a leader in People Practices with a knack towards solving problems. An IIM Bangalore alumna and a story visualizer, her focus is on bridging the gap between education and industry by supporting fresh graduates to kick-start their career and helping the women to return to the workforce after mandatory breaks.