Namita Vikas, Group President & Global Head, Climate Strategy & Responsible Banking, YES Bank

While business outcomes are easily measurable through the calculation of numbers such as sales and profit, return on investment and annual growth, quantifying the actual impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes is not as straightforward. For one, business outcomes are objective in nature and relate to the linear measure of how much financial value...

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have helped streamline the global developmental agenda by identifying 17 clear and quantifiable goals for the world to work towards. The quantum of finance required to achieve them, however, poses a huge challenge. SDGs require an annual investment of USD 5-7 trillion, with India alone needing USD 8.9...

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which expired in 2015, had little impact in accelerating global development efforts. The slow progress of the MDGs, was in large part due to low awareness amongst the general public on what the goals meant and what action needed to be taken. Effective communication, hence, will be a critical...

In 2014, India became the first country in the world to mandate companies to spend a fraction of their revenue on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). However, long before the Companies Act 2013, cultural beliefs in daan and good karma, have always been a deep-rooted part of India’s corporate culture. Business houses such as the Tata’s...

2015 was a watershed year that witnessed 193 nations coming together to form a set of 17 “Sustainable Development Goals” (SDGs) to address contemporary developmental challenges and ensure a sustainable future. These global goals have played a crucial role in charting out a roadmap for nations to re-align economic policies and financial systems to...

India recognizes its growing leadership in tackling global climate change. On the World Environment Day 2018, India committed to eliminate single-use plastic by 2022 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to the citizens to shun low-grade polythenes and plastics. These initiatives would certainly help curb the negative impact of plastic pollution on the environment. It is important...

Earth Overshoot Day is the day that marks excessive resource consumption beyond what Earth can sustainably renew in an entire year. This year on the day (August 1), humans will have already used up resources allotted for this entire year, and for the rest of the year, and would be running in debt of...

Globally, the advent of digitally enabled Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) has already been termed as the fastest period of innovation ever. Rapid advancements in technology, disruption of conventional markets and reconstruction of business-as-usual models are transforming and realigning the ways economies and societies operate. India, with an estimated growth rate of 7.4% in FY19, expected...

In 2018, India emerged as the fastest growing major economy in the World. With support from the aggressive service sector, which roughly accounts for 60% of the GDP, India is now the 6th largest economy in the World as per nominal GDP. A tick in all the right boxes from an economic standpoint, but...

Over the past four years, India Inc. has progressively adopted the national CSR directive having spent more than INR 30,000 Crores, with over INR 9,000 Crores invested in FY 2017-18 alone. This expenditure surpassed expectations and brought to fore the need for enhanced governance and accountability measures, strengthened with quantifiable social impact. Given that...

It is always heartening to hear PM Modi speak – he lays down plans that turn far-fetched dreams into reality. Be it the aggressive targets like 175 GW renewable energy by 2022, or complete e-mobility by 2030, the PM is a visionary and has placed India at the helm of achieving Sustainable Development. I...

Climate change is emerging as one of this century's greatest destabilizing forces, undermining the global economy, impacting food and water security, and affecting health and wellness. It is now firmly on the global agenda and governments, corporations, and communities are joining hands towards securing the planet’s future. The historic Conference of Parties (COP21) at...