Chapter 5: Stakeholder Engagement Through the Lens of Indian Ethos: A Study of Indian Banking

Stakeholder engagement (SE) is an interactive process for a business to engage with stakeholders and understand their primary corporate objectives. SE promotes dialogic communication, accountability, transformative action, and social change. SE is centuries old in India. In the Bhagavata Purana, Lord Krishna raises Govardhan Hill to protect the population from a storm, symbolizing ‘Sarva Loka Hitam.’ This chapter uses Indian ethos from Vedic literature to analyze SE in the Indian financial sector. Indian banks' nonfinancial reports show how they engage stakeholders and how Indian values and beliefs affect these efforts. Indian banks' SE activities and their connection with Indian ideals are also illustrated. It discusses the stakeholder interaction of sustainability reports and Sarva Loka Hitam. The qualitative content analysis of the top 10 banks' sustainability reports shows a pervasive discourse about how banks use ancient Indian ethos in their policies and vision statements to benefit all people. This chapter introduces an Indian ethos-based SE paradigm. Defined by Lokasangraha, bank SE techniques based on Sarva Loka Hitam are presented. Stakeholder identification (“Sarve Bhabantu Sukhina, Sarve Shanti Niramaya”), Grievance Mechanism (Kautilya Asthshastra; Santhi Parva of Mahabharat), Top Management Vision (“Raja Hitakaro Nrinam”; Valmiki Ramayana), and Level of Engagement. This study examines Vedic Sarva Loka Hitam, which emphasizes community harmony and well-being. The prayer “Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavanthu” emphasizes our interconnectedness and the need of putting people before profit.