Growth that lasts generations: Why sustainability must become India Inc.’s next discipline

Over the course of my career—across four decades in banking and now in technology—I have watched India transform in ways that would once have seemed improbable. We have built institutions, scaled systems, deepened financial inclusion, expanded digital access and created prosperity at a speed that commands genuine respect. And yet, there is one transformation we keep postponing: the moment when Indian businesses stop treating sustainability as a responsibility it fulfils on paper, and start treating it as a discipline it practices in earnest.

I want to speak not to policymakers or regulators—but to my peers. To the men and women who run companies, sit on boards, and make decisions that shape what India’s economy looks and feels like, not just today but a generation from now.

National ambition needs enterprise action

India’s macro-level climate commitments are real and commendable. Our Panchamrit goals, renewable energy targets, stated ambition to reach net zero by 2070—these signal an intent that the world has taken note of. But ambition expressed at the national level becomes hollow if it is not matched by action at the enterprise level. And if we are honest with ourselves, that gap remains wide. Organisations have sustainability reported far fewer have sustainability cultures. Carbon accounting is still treated as a compliance exercise rather than a strategic lens. Supply chains remain inadequately unexamined. In many boardrooms, climate risk is still reactive—triggered by regulation, investor pressure or reputational concern—rather than proactive. This is no longer good enough.

The Reserve Bank of India has recognised climate-related financial risk as a matter of governance, strategy, risk management, metrics and targets. That is the right framing. Climate risk is business risk. It belongs in the same conversation as credit risk, cyber risk, market risk and operational resilience.

Sustainability is a management discipline

I believe deeply that companies need to develop a conscience for avoiding actions that harm the planet—and that this instinct must be internalised at the leadership level. It is this embedded reflex that changes how a business makes everyday decisions, not just how it writes annual disclosures.

A company that understands its energy use, water dependence, waste, logistics footprint and supplier exposure understands its business better. It sees risk earlier. It allocates capital more wisely. It builds trust with investors, regulators, employees and customers. Sustainability, viewed this way, is not a softer version of strategy. It is strategy made to last.

India still has the privilege of design

India’s growth story is still being written. Unlike older economies that built prosperity on carbon-intensive infrastructure and are now spending enormous resources retrofitting greener practices onto legacy systems, we still have the privilege of choice. We can decide now what kind of growth we want. We can build sustainability into procurement decisions, capital allocation, product design, technology architecture, hiring criteria and supplier standards while the architecture of our economy is still taking shape. But we must realise that the window will not remain open indefinitely.

Technology must change decisions, not just dashboards

Technology will be critical, but we must be precise about its role. Data, AI, automation and cloud platforms can help organisations measure what was previously invisible. They can identify inefficiencies, predict supply-chain disruptions, model climate exposure, reduce waste and bring greater accuracy to reporting. But better dashboards are not transformation. True transformation happens when data changes decisions.

If sustainability data reaches the board but does not influence decisions, then it remains theatre. If it changes how the institution operates, it becomes an advantage.

As enterprises adopt AI, we must also broaden our definition of productivity. In India, productivity cannot only mean doing more at lower cost. It must also mean doing more with fewer resources, fewer emissions, less waste and greater resilience.

What leadership must now do

First, sustainability must become board-level accountability, not a CSR committee agenda item. Climate risk is business risk—and it belongs in the same conversation as financial risk. Second, organisations must measure what matters and report honestly, including on gaps. Third, companies must extend standards beyond their own four walls. Clean supply chains are the foundation of genuine environmental commitment. If suppliers are not aligned, a net zero pledge is a number without a plan.

Finally, leaders must lead visibly. The behaviour of senior leaders — what they ask, what they approve, what they decline, what they reward — shapes institutional culture far more than any policy document.

None of this requires waiting for the perfect regulatory framework or ideal market conditions. It requires a decision.

The question of legacy

The businesses shaping India’s next wave of growth are being watched. Not just by shareholders or regulators, but by a climate that does not negotiate, does not grant extensions, and does not care about quarterly cycles. We are living through the consequences of decisions made by those who came before us. The decisions we make today will be someone else’s consequences tomorrow. That is not poetry. That is physics.

India has earned the right to be ambitious. We built digital public infrastructure that the world studied. We drove financial inclusion at a scale that textbooks are still catching up to. We did not do those things by being timid. We did them by deciding that the old way was simply no longer good enough. #NowForClimate demands the same clarity of conviction.

This is not a moment for calibrated commitments or carefully worded sustainability pledges. The Earth sent its signals. The data is unambiguous. The only question left is whether Indian businesses will lead this transition or be dragged into it; because the companies that endure will not be those that did the minimum required of them. They will be the ones that understood, early enough, that the future is the most important stakeholder. We all know which one builds lasting advantage. We all know which one builds legacy. It is the only rational choice left on the table.

(The author is president and CEO, Salesforce — South Asia. Views are personal.)