be a great enabler, given the fact that investment in supply chain has a direct correlation with the growth of organized retailing. The role of corporate well and truly goes beyond their performance in the arena of business, which is exclusively oriented towards generation of profit for the shareholders. Philanthropy is another arena for corporate engagement in nation-building. Corporate houses have gone through distinct phases of engagement with philanthropy in India. In the early days, corporate houses like Tata, the Birla, and the Dalmia— were known for making major contributions towards setting up schools, colleges and hospitals. Widespread poverty around them was clearly a big motivator for them to contribute. Later, during the 1960s, 1970s and even 1980s, businesses were struggling with high taxes and multiple regulations. Running businesses was a cumbersome job, leave alone making contributions to the social cause. Things have changed since then, thanks to liberalization. Corporatism is more confident today both about the present and the future and has once again started contributing. Education is quite rightly a key focus area for many of the corporate initiatives. Bharti Foundation, are running 236 primary schools catering to over 30,000 students. Many corporate are supporting skill development initiatives too. This is going to be a critical area of nation-building in the days to come. Is the corporate doing enough for our nation building. The answer could, at best, be mixed. There are two reasons behind this. One, there is a serious cultural barrier for Indians to donate personal wealth. Because of the strong family bond, Indian parents, in contrast to their western counterparts, prefer to transfer their personal wealth to their offspring. Western parents, in contrast, use their personal wealth to promote social causes they subscribe to. We already have seen great examples in corporate philanthropy in the shape of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and other western foundations, which have created endowments worth billions of dollars. Cultures take a
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