India will become the third largest economy in the next six years, says Deloitte Global CEO Punit Renjen in an exclusive interview. The Indian-origin CEO believes that India is going to witness multifaceted growth going ahead.
On being asked whether people globally look at India as a potential manufacturing destination, the Indian-American Renjen says: “I see no reason why India cannot take advantage of the realignment of supply chains that came to the fore through the pandemic.”
Taking in account the realignment of supply chains, Renjen is bullish on India becoming a manufacturing hub.
Speaking exclusively to Udayan Mukherjee, Global Business Editor, Business Today TV, Renjen said, “The supply chains and the realignment of supply chains, where India has a large base of capability, large domestic market, can be and should be a destination for resilient supply chains. Apple setting up a facility in Tamil Nadu and expanding that facility is a good example of that.”
As Deloitte Global CEO since 2015, Renjen has developed and executed a global strategy that resulted in Deloitte revenue growing from $35 billion to more than $59 billion in just seven years.
Renjen also spearheaded Deloitte’s World Climate initiative, which includes near-term (2030) greenhouse gas reduction goals, which have been validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) as 1.5°C-aligned.
“We have certainly altered the way we operate, the way we travel, our buildings, we have also trained, armed our 400,000 professionals with appropriate education so that they can change behaviour and influence their communities,” Renjen said.
“We buy a lot of stuff and we are working with our suppliers to make sure that they are consistent with the commitments that we have made. And, I’ve seen this happen in all the forums that I participate in, across the board with business. Increasingly, businesses not only recognise that there is a climate emergency, but they’re also making the effort required to make the change now,” the Indian-American CEO said.
Talking about mental health, Renjen said, now companies need to acknowledge mental health like any other aspect of health and it needs to be talked about openly.
He added organisations now need to make an effort to enable people to address issues that come with mental stress whether it is external, pandemic related, or internal. “We need to design programmes so that we can go ahead and address mental health, but this will take ongoing effort. One of the silver linings of the pandemic was that we started acknowledging and talking about mental health and putting it at the right level. Within a corporation if you don’t have mentally healthy, [and] just healthy individuals working for your business, you’re not going to get their best,” Renjen asserted.
Renjen, still considers himself more of a “Rohtak boy” who made it big in the land of opportunity. He is the first Asian to lead the largest of the big four global professional services firms. Renjen recently announced that he would retire as Deloitte Global CEO on December 31 and would be replaced by Joe Ucuzoglu. Renjen will now become Global CEO Emeritus.Also read: This CEO shares Netflix themed resume on LinkedIn; here’s how users reacted
