UK India Business Council launches socio-economic impact campaign

The UK India business Council has launched a campaign to highlight the importance of the socioeconomic contribution that UK businesses make in India.

Being delivered in partnership with UNDP, the campaign will map the activities of businesses and universities against the UNS' Sustainable Development Goals. Key findings and observations from the campaign will be compiled into a report to be released in late 2020 to coincide with the UN Climate Change Summit in Glasgow.

The launch was graced by Sanyukta Samaddar, Advisor at Niti Aayog along with Richard Heald, Group CEO, UKIBC; and Shoko Noda, UN Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in India.

The UNDP-UKIBC partnership will facilitate mapping of UK businesses socio-economic impact against the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which are aimed at eliminating poverty and ensuring prosperity, ranging from environmental sustainability to advancing education.

The launch included a “walkthrough” exhibition showcasing the work carried out by several UK businesses and universities in India, including British Telecom, JCB, Cairn Energy, Standard Chartered, UNDP, to name a few.

Speaking at the launch Sanyukta Samaddar, Advisor at Niti Aayog said, “We are delighted to be a part of this promising engagement. This initiative will lead the path in harnessing the resources in finance, knowledge, innovation, and strategy of the business sector in India for the successful implementation of the SDGS. This effort by the UKIBC illustrates that there's a huge opportunity in integrating SDGS with the business sector, aiding in leveraging the power that the sector possesses to address some of the key SDG targets, wherein India requires focused intervention.”

Richard Heald, Group CEO, UKIBC observed, “UK businesses and universities want to succeed in India, and their definition of success includes helping India achieve its socioeconomic objectives. This is an exciting time to launch this campaign. Across the world there is a growing acceptance of sustainable development as an over-arching policy goal, which has stimulated interest in assessing the impact of businesses”.

Also present at the launch, Shoko Noda, UNDP Resident Representative in India, said, “UNDP is excited to partner with UKIBC on this study to measure the socio-economic impact of UK businesses in India.” UKIBC is keen to highlight the UK'S leading and longstanding support through the launch of this campaign.