The IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry is an industry body that has played a major role in fostering the world of corporations and industries. From its days of being the Indian Merchant Chambers, catering to the realm of merchants, it has now expanded its purview to Commerce and Industry.

Sanjaya Mariwala, head of Omniactive Health Technologies Ltd, took the role of president of IMC Chamber of Commerce and Industry in June 2024.

To talk about the changing landscape of business and the world along with IMC role in India Inc, Sanjaya Mariwala sat down for a chat with FPJ Consulting Editor RN Bhaskar.

FPJ: Well, it's good to see you once again and I thought I should first congratulate you on assuming the position of president of the IMC. The IMC is a very prestigious organisation, and you at the helm of affairs of it, warranted a discussion with you on what you have been doing and what you planned?

Sanjaya Mariwala: It's a great opportunity for me, sir, to express my views and get it in front of a larger audience.

FPJ: One thing is why should an industrialist like you be at the helm of an organisation like IMC?

Sanjaya Mariwala: And I think I have asked myself a question. And I looked at what is going on in the country. And to look at what the IMC is doing and what it stands for. I saw some gaps there. That's why intervention has created a change that we make when it comes to the IMC and the IMC members. Sometimes you need that kind of little change to make major changes happen. And that's probably why I agreed to take up this position.

So I thought that was the reason why I decided to do it. In addition, there has been a history in my family. I am the third generation from my family to be at the IMC. It's an interesting matter when I talk about it. But it's true that when IMC started, when our family started, we started as merchants. We were all merchants.

Today, I think it is from actually talking about the industry and industrialisation, which is probably what merchants and a lot of people as well across the world are focusing on. Commerce and industry is what needs to focussed on and looked at. Most people move to industrialisation and industry, as that's where the future lies. And that's what IMC needs to focus on.

FPJ: Every Industrialist, who has been a merchant before, has been successful in being an industrialist.

Sanjaya Mariwala: It always helps to have that background. And industry in a sense is an interesting space. It is also about the situation. When my family started, India and the industry in the country were different. India then was very small, in terms of scale. Today, I am in India, which is a larger India, with an impact across the globe. Almost every industry is what merchants do.

And I thought that's what I would have to bridge and bring to the world. So it is also true that every industrialist who has been a merchant earlier is more successful in being an industrialist.

FPJ: What were you doing before joining the IMC?

Sanjaya Mariwala: Well, I was in business. The business is about using natural products and converting them to manufactured value-added goods. We provide solutions for health care.

FPJ: So you are with nature, you are with agriculture, and you need the skills.

Sanjaya Mariwala: We are leaders in the business. We develop our own seeds. We make the decision of how to pay for it, how to support agriculture. And we also protect those crops, from which we take out the interesting medical elements.

FPJ: What are your objectives, as you shepherd the IMC, what is the legacy that you wish to leave behind?

Sanjaya Mariwala: The key objectives are Awakening, Advocacy, Awareness, Alignment and Actions.

In this, when I say awakening, it's, you know, it's that all of us need to be shakers right from some point of time in our lives, to learn about when I say reading, it's, you know, it's all of us need to be shaken away from some point of time in our lives and our day or our lives, our complacency should be out of all of our perspectives.

It's something we have to talk about.

Sometimes we get a rule, a thing about our perspectives and that we are in the right perspective, something really wrong, or maybe something you raise very well often. Once you do that, you can understand what should be done.

So, awareness is the next step that should create alignment to bring people together. We align ourselves to this new beginning, a new world.

So they are, you know, bring to the world or be aware of me and action in, about some changes is the way this comes.

So that's what I view as needed, if you are as well, and so all the activities will be directed towards promoting these five As.

FPJ: The next question, the next issue that I would like you to address is you are currently in very challenging, very turbulent times. Here we have unemployment, we have low FDI, we have the potential, but it has not been realised. What are the policies that you think the government should work on?

Sanjaya Mariwala: I would say, I think perhaps, there are lessons to be learnt from our own experiences in the last two or 3-4 years. Let's look at where we have succeeded and where we are and let's talk about why we are. I think for now if you look at our last three years.

Now, I would say, I think the world order is changing. What people want right now, there is a big issue that came through the belief there are economies of the world that are operating and you operate from work from home.

But, after the pandemic, we were the first to come out and work from the office. We respond to the meaning of what human beings are all about.

As human beings, we need connections. We need communication across the board. You need to read the body language.

It starts with a focus on simple things.

We need to permit and foster change; it should be all and that you need to be able to communicate with each other's own position, and that's where your people are doing.

When we look at relations between countries. What's happened between the US, China and Europe? The Chinese are increasing shipping and transportation, logistics and supply chains, and are suffering.

I think one of the most important issues is that we need to stick to the path that we are on, this path is right for India, and the government and ministers like EAM Jaishankar are doing the right thing.

And if it's good for India, it's good for 1.4 billion people, it therefore becomes a catalyst for the rest of the world.

We need to think about the leadership that we bring to the world. And take the role very seriously.

FPJ: There's one issue that I wanted to ask you about the future of trade, which again is, which is what IMC dabbles in. Suddenly you have a weak Europe, a Weakening US and a resurgent ASEAN. So does it mean that we have to reorient ourselves.

Sanjaya Mariwala: Let's look at the US and Europe, what is the share of their market that we can buy when we buy, they are our number one partners, but we are not. Now that these forces are weakening, it is our turn to not look away and fill that gap and better our positions.

So, I would not say away from the universe, I see you bring your own universe the same we share, and you can get a large, large share of money.

And, when we look at these nations, every nation goes through cycles of ups and downs. They go down and come back from it, resurging. The US is a 200-year-old country, and we are much older than that. They have, I think Europeans will probably have a tougher time doing this, their own.

All civilisations go through ups and downs.

Resilience is at the centre. We have bounced back at some point in our history, and so have others, Europe may take a while, given its situation.

So there's no point in not continuing your influence in the market. You need to learn from these developments, and then you can also go to Asia and make a strong position in Asia.

You know, the reason why it took us time to build those positions in Western Europe is the fact that there were strong nations so they have their own.

FPJ: In the last five years, we've seen the role of the services sector increase globally in India when, however, the manufacturing sector has not grown at the same pace. Is that a reason for concern?

Sanjaya Mariwala: I think that's a concern I have and that's one of the things I'd like to hear also focus at the IMC, how do we focus on the manufacturing industry?

How do we get the companies to see what are the opportunities, what we need to do now is that the government sees the need to look at it.

I think one of the sectors that's in focus and that should get attention is the Medium scale industry, and I am not referring to the small and medium scale or the MSEs or SMEs or Micro.

Medium scale companies are some of the most important in any economy, they are the most resilient, they show rapid growth. And they are probably one of the world's most competitive businesses in the world. They mainly need tremendous work and they need to educate the government.