Nitin Paranjpe, Chairman of Hindustan Unilever Limited, shares his views on why developing human capital will play a key role in India becoming one of the world’s leading economies, and how Unilever initiatives are boosting skills development, employment creation and diversity.
At a time when most nations are seeing a slowdown in their growth, India has an ambition to become the third-largest economy by 2030, creating meaningful employment and livelihood opportunities for the millions entering the workforce each year.
This goal will require the nation to step up its growth rate from a historical average of around 7% over the last decade, to over 8%[a]. While not easy, it is possible. And our young and growing working-age population could prove to be our greatest asset.
A narrow window of opportunity
With a median age of 28 years and over 65% of its population at working age, India is already younger than countries like the US, UK and China. While India will be home to one-fifth of the global working-age population by 2030, it too will start ageing. So we need to capitalise on this window of opportunity.
Projections indicate that over the next decade, India will need to create 90 million non-farm jobs. This will need systemic action with particular focus on sectors that have a high employment elasticity, such as financial services, hospitality, retail and e-commerce. Importantly, micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) need to play a bigger role.
Government and corporates must collaborate
Government alone cannot address the challenges we face in developing our human capital. Corporates need to play a key role – be it in reskilling and upskilling the workforce, creating employment, embracing diversity or supporting human development.
At Hindustan Unilever, we have always lived by the philosophy: what’s good for India, is good for HUL. We believe that our small steps in building human capital make a difference through a trickle-down effect impacting our suppliers, partners and the larger ecosystem.
A woman in a laboratory using a microscope
Nurturing strong foundations, building capabilities for the future
In addition to our management development programme, we’re committed to building a future-ready talent pool. In the last year alone, we have invested over 100,000 hours on upskilling across our offices, factories and salesforce.
For instance, we’re upskilling our sales teams on data-driven decision-making and our goal is for over 50% of shopfloor employees to be skilled in automation and machine learning over the next 2–3 years. We also offer internship opportunities across the business.
Businesses can only prosper in a flourishing society
Ten years ago, we launched Prabhat, our sustainable community development initiative, through which we have touched the lives of nearly 10 million people in the communities around our factories and depots. Through 18 Livelihood Centres, we’ve trained over 100,000 women and young people in vocational skills and entrepreneurship development.
Additionally, in our drive for more socially inclusive growth, last year we ran a supplier diversity initiative that helped accelerate and scale businesses owned by minority and underrepresented groups, including women and people with disabilities.
Pioneers in equity, diversity and inclusion
Embracing diversity is deeply entrenched in our culture. Take Project Shakti, for example, which aims to enhance the livelihoods of rural women by training them to become micro-entrepreneurs and sell our products. Today we have over 200,000 Shakti ammas who command respect in their communities.
Similarly, at our new manufacturing unit in Sumerpur, Uttar Pradesh, women make up 40% of the workforce. This has had a ripple effect in the local community where there’s been a 55% increase in women enrolling for technical programmes and higher studies.
Experimenting with future-fit employment models
Traditional employer–employee dynamics are no longer fit for purpose for either individuals or businesses. People are increasingly looking for more personally and professionally satisfying work, tailored to their needs and life stages.
Our Open2U programme offers people the flexibility to define their work schedule while having the security of structured compensation and benefits, as well as the opportunity to work on high-impact projects.
Image of a group of collaborators having a meeting
People at the heart of the nation’s growth
India is well poised to leapfrog into the future and become one of the world’s leading economies. Armed with technological prowess, innovative acumen, increasing affluence and growth-centric policies, the country is often referred to as the new land of opportunities.
While India accelerates on its journey towards a $10 trillion economy, it has to ensure that no one is left behind and that we progress from a social as well as economic perspective. We have to build an India that we can all be proud of. And we have to do it now.
