Looking in the Mirror – HR in Partnership with Business

Shashikanth Jayaraman, Head – Human Resources, TVS Automobile Solutions Ltd and Founder, HR Sangam for CII.

The contemporary HR, as they say, is one that aligns with business needs, strategizes and delivers interventions that take the organization to the next level. Often, simpler said than done. Ask a random sample of 100 HR professionals and you would realize that the majority would have less or little understanding of the industry of which their company is a part of. This is much more than information on one’s organization by virtue of the routine of Inductions and employee onboarding sessions that they would sleep walk through. An impediment that is reiterated time and again is the level of business understanding of HR in the organization. 

Working as Partners – Aligning Aspirations

There is little doubt that India’s best asset is its large and growing workforce, a cohort of increasingly literate, innovative and hardworking young people.

Indeed, India’s rise towards an inclusive and high-growth economy is predicated on unleashing the dynamism and productivity of its workers. It is in the context of creating opportunities for India’s youth that Industrial Relations must be viewed in India. 

People Productivity: Key to Indian Manufacturing Competitiveness

India’s potential to become a manufacturing superpower has been discussed time and again.

This potential is underpinned by the availability of an abundant workforce and labor cost competitiveness the country enjoys. Not surprisingly, the National Manufacturing Policy has set a target for India’s manufacturing sector to increase its share of GDP from 15 percent currently to 25 percent by 2022 (in line with global peers today). Achieving this target will help India become the fifth-largest manufacturing nation globally–up from ninth presently.

Despite the high potential, though, the Indian manufacturing sector has not been able to achieve the requisite growth. The industry’s share of GDP has remained relatively flat for over two decades now.