One nation, one election key to economic continuity, says Sunil Bharti Mittal

Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman of Bharti Enterprises, has thrown his weight behind the idea of One Nation, One Election, calling it critical for uninterrupted economic activity and policy momentum. Speaking at CII’s Annual General Meeting (AGM), Mittal said frequent elections act as periodic brakes on growth and governance.

“There are far too many disturbances during elections in terms of economic activities,” he said. “The Code of Conduct is ushered in fairly early. Everything stops—government contracts, government payments. A lot of restrictions come in.”

He also argued that synchronising state and central elections would reduce disruptions and give industry and the government a clearer runway to plan and implement growth initiatives. “These multiple elections do create slowdown in our economy,” he said. “And if you can’t do it in one step, perhaps it will happen in two steps the first time. But eventually, my friends, we really need to get there.”

Furthermore, Mittal painted a larger picture of India’s economic prospects, noting that India is entering a rare moment of convergence that could catapult it into the ranks of the top three global economies—and industry has a critical role to play in making that happen.

“Our industry plays a very vital role in moving the economic agenda of the country forward,” said the chairman. “That one job that you give to an engineer or a technician or a delivery boy… creates the spending power, creates savings, gives momentum to the economy.”

However, Mittal cautioned that Indian businesses have not yet earned complete trust from all stakeholders. “Many a times, it has seemed that we approach issues from our individual or sectoral interests and have taken our eye off the larger national interest,” he said, stressing that “India First” must be at the core of all business decisions.

Mittal outlined four key pillars he believes will shape India’s journey to economic leadership: talent dividend, R&D, trade reset, and policy framework.

From demographic to talent dividend

India’s demographic advantage is well recognised, but Mittal urged the industry to focus on converting this into a “talent dividend.” With over 1.5 million engineers graduating every year—more than the U.S. and China combined—he stressed the need to make this talent job-ready.

“There is so much potential out there. But it is not necessarily job ready. We need to do much more,” he said.

He called for deeper collaboration between academia and industry, not just to build skills but to make Indian talent globally competitive, especially as immigration restrictions tighten around the world.

“Today, from the comfort of their homes, they can serve the globe… It is therefore no surprise that we are seeing the growth of GCC centres here in India—in a dramatically large way,” Mittal added.

Rethinking R&D investment

Mittal’s second pillar was research and development, where India’s investment remains well below global standards. “India spends less than 1% of its GDP on R&D. China does 2.5%. Korea does 5%,” he pointed out.

He urged Indian industry to raise its own R&D spending and work with the government and academia to build a more robust innovation ecosystem. “Let’s do and demonstrate what is required from us in terms of R&D spending so that the government can also step up its game.”

The government’s recent ₹1,000 crore allocation for R&D in future space and telecom technologies, Mittal said, should be matched by meaningful industry contribution.

Trade reset

Thirdly, there is a need to rethink India’s export strategy and boost domestic value addition. He urged businesses to diversify exports and build global-quality manufacturing capacity, particularly in high-demand sectors. “No raw material should really leave our shores without being processed and value-added. That should be an article of faith with all of us in the industry.”

He called for industry-government alignment to diversify India’s export basket and reduce dependency on imports, especially in electronics and semiconductors. Alluding to the success of the PLI scheme and the government’s support for semiconductor manufacturing, he said, “I honestly hadn’t thought during my lifetime we would see electronic manufacturing coming here,” he said, adding that import substitution in critical areas like semiconductors and hydrocarbons would strengthen India’s economic base.

Strengthening policy frameworks

The final pillar he identified was policy—a critical enabler for faster, more inclusive growth.  He praised the government’s collaboration with industry on 5G rollout as a successful example of how public-private partnership can accelerate national goals.

But he also stressed the need for continuous policy reform. “Ease of doing business is important. We need more of it,” he said, urging the industry body CII to identify and recommend annual policy changes—what he called “low-hanging fruits”—that could simplify regulatory processes, and to identify annual policy interventions that could remove bottlenecks across areas like corporate affairs, taxation, and capital markets.

“Our stakeholders are not just our shareholders who look for profits and dividends. Our stakeholders are also the population at large,” he said. He reminded Indian businesses that while creating wealth and building companies was important, the bigger goal must be to “leave a great society, a strong nation” for future generations.