Session 6 of the RevSportz Trailblazer Conclave 2.0 was one with a difference. The subject was Corporate India and Sport. Boria Majumdar was the mediator.
The speakers were Chanakya Chaudhary of Tata Steel, Vignesh Shahane of Ageas Federal, Rahul Todi of Shrachi Group, MVS Murthy of Federal Bank, Athletics Federation of India president Adille Sumariwalla and Vijay Pereira, professor of Sports and Business at NEOMA Business School, France.
Talking about the vision of Tata Steel, Chaudhary said what began about a hundred years ago with the intention of engaging with the community has become something much bigger. “We have built infrastructure, training centres and academies in Jharkhand and Odisha,” he said.
“There has been a lot of investment in the grassroots. Now, we have to take it to the next level.”
Shahane was a cricketer himself. He said those lessons are invaluable in his professional work. “What I learnt in the cricket field can’t be learnt in any board room,” he said. “Sport teaches you that success should not go to your head and failure shouldn’t go to the heart. These are massive lessons. Corporate life is also about ups and downs. You keep soldiering on.”
Sumariwalla said corporate India has not been great towards sports. “Barring Tata Steel, I’d say corporate India has failed Indian sports,” he said.
“The government can’t do anything. If we take 0.5% of CSR budget of India’s top 30 companies, it will come to Rs 7,500 crore. A lot can be done with that volume of money. I urge that each corporate take up one sport and support that instead of spending on 10 disciplines.”
Murthy said his company engages with communities through sports. “It also depends on business interests,” he said.
“We have run football academies in smaller cities where children from the fishermen community used to come. Now, we want to look at aspects like mental health and nutrition.”
Todi said the Shrachi Group is a start-up as far as their association with sports in concerned.
“Corporate houses will have to play a bigger role in the development of sports,” he said. “There are different ways of contributing. As real estate developers, we think it’s worthwhile to keep some open space in residential complexes which can be used for sports.”
According to Pereira, involving the academic world in sports and organising programmes to exchange of ideas is a way forward.
“We need to accumulate and share knowledge,” he said. “There will be a conference at our university in France in the gap between the Olympic and Paralympic Games. IIM Indore has shown interest to host the next one. Conclaves like these facilitate sharing of knowledge.”