New Delhi:

Weighing in on the 90-hour workweek controversy, ITC Ltd Chairman Sanjiv Puri said that it is more important for the workers to be aligned to the grander vision of the company rather than the number of hours put in.

Giving an analogy of many workers building a castle, he said, “If you ask a mason what he is doing, he might say he is laying a brick, another might say he is building a wall but some might say he is building a castle. It is that vision that workers should have,” he told PTI in an interview.

Asked if he is saying that mean if he would rather not put a number to the work hours at ITC, he said, “We would not do that.” “We would rather like people to be part of the journey (of the company) and feel passionately involved and kind of feel the urge amongst themselves to make a difference to the enterprise. That’s how we look at it”.

The cigarettes-to-consumer goods conglomerate allows a flexible work environment, including work from home on two days every week, he said.

ITC, he said, provides a lot of flexibility in working. “Also two days a week, you can work from home,” he said.

“So it’s not so much about, you know, really monitoring each individual’s number of hours. It’s more about enabling individuals, helping them to actualise their potential, and then reviewing what goals people have achieved.

His comments follow a controversy SN Subrahmanyan, Chairman and Managing Director of India’s largest engineering and construction company Larsen & Toubro Ltd, sparked on social media when he said employees should work 90-hour a week including on Sundays rather than sit at home.

“I regret I am not able to make you work on Sundays,” Subrahmanyan said in an undated video of his discussion with staff.

“What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife, and how long can the wife stare at the husband.” The video, which was circulated widely on social media platforms X and Linkedin, led to heated debate about work-life balance.

“I know that he (Subrahmanyan) has been debated a lot, but let me tell you the philosophy with which you look at it,” Puri said.

He then went on to explain how empowering the employees with the company vision and goal was important.

Vision, values and vitality are what ITC is all about, he added.

“So we put a lot of effort in making sure that everybody understands the vision of the enterprise. We use a part of the vision and want to contribute to making the vision a reality. And we enable vitality by our processes, by the resources we provide, by the freedom to act, that we provide, the empowerment that we provide, which are very different and very clear goals for individuals to achieve, and these are the primary things that we look at,” he said.

While Subrahmanyan’s comments sparked a heated debate about work-life balance in the country, a Larsen & Toubro spokesperson last week said that the chairman’s remarks reflect the company’s “larger ambition”.

“We believe this is India’s decade, a time demanding collective dedication and effort to drive progress and realise our shared vision of becoming a developed nation,” the company had said in a statement.

L&T head’s views drew criticism from some peers in the business community. RPG Group Chairman Harsh Goenka said longer working hours was a recipe for burnout and not success.

Subrahmanyan’s comments followed Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy’s suggestion of a 70-hour workweek and Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani’s “biwi bhaag jayegi (wife will run away)” remark if one spent more than eight hours at home.

“Your idea of work-life balance should not be imposed on me and my idea shouldn’t be imposed on you. Say, someone spends four hours with family and finds joy in it, or if someone else spends 8 hours and enjoys it, that is their work-life balance,” he had said last month.

“Aath ghante family ke saath bitayega tho biwi bhaag jaayegi (Wife will leave if one spends eight hours with family),” he had said.

The work-life balance debate echoes a similar one in China where the so-called 996 culture – the three digits describe a punishing schedule of 9 am to 9 pm six days a week – is being debated. 

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Equity benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty settled lower for the sixth straight session on Monday (October 7, 2024) due to heavy selling in bellwether stocks including HDFC Bank and Reliance Industries amid mixed trends in the global markets and outflow of foreign funds.

Falling for the sixth consecutive session, the BSE Sensex tumbled 638.45 points or 0.78% to settle at 81,050. During the day, it plummeted 962.39 points or 1.17% to 80,726.06.

The NSE Nifty slumped 218.85 points or 0.87% to end at 24,795.75.

From the 30 Sensex firms, Adani Ports & Special Economic Zones, NTPC, State Bank of India, PowerGrid, IndusInd Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Titan and UltraTech Cement were the major laggards.

Mahindra & Mahindra, ITC, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Bajaj Finance, Tata Consultancy Services and Tech Mahindra defied the trend.

“The Indian markets have entered a consolidation phase with high risk of underperforming to Asian peers. This phase is marked by significant corrections in the broader market due to premium valuations. There is notable global arbitrage activity, with Chinese markets attracting substantial inflows driven by its attractive valuations and stimulus measures,” Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services, said.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude surged 2.09% to $79.68 a barrel.

European markets were trading on a mixed note on Monday (October 7, 2024).

In Asian markets, Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Seoul settled higher.

Wall Street ended with gains on Friday (October 4, 2024).

Investors are reassessing their portfolio positions and FIIs outflows are exacerbated. Amid escalating geopolitical tensions, the surging oil prices pose a further challenge to the domestic economy in the short term, Mr. Nair added.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹9,896.95 crore on Friday (October 4, 2024), while Domestic Institutional Investors (DIIs) bought equities worth ₹8,905.08 crore, according to exchange data.

On Friday (October 4, 2024), the BSE Sensex tumbled 808.65 points to settle at a three-week low of 81,688.45, while NSE Nifty slumped 235.50 points to 25,014.60.

Last week, the BSE Sensex tanked 3,883.4 points, or 4.53%, and the Nifty slumped 1,164.35 points or 4.44%.

Exchange Data said that FIIs bought equities worth ₹2,208.23 crore on Tuesday (September 10, 2024). File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Equity benchmark indices declined in early trade on Wednesday (September 11, 2024) after two days of gains amid selling in Tata Motors and weak trends in Asian markets.

The 30-share BSE Sensex fell 111.85 points to 81,809.44. The NSE Nifty dipped 39.2 points to 25,001.90.

Among the 30 Sensex firms, Tata Motors, ICICI Bank, Titan, HDFC Bank, JSW Steel, Tech Mahindra, UltraTech Cement and Axis Bank were the major laggards.

Asian Paints, Bharti Airtel, ITC and Hindustan Unilever were among the gainers.

In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading lower.

The U.S. markets ended mostly with gains on Tuesday (September 10, 2024).

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth ₹2,208.23 crore on Tuesday (September 10, 2024), according to exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude climbed 0.59% to $69.60 a barrel.

The BSE benchmark climbed 361.75 points or 0.44% to settle at 81,921.29 on Tuesday (September 11, 2024). The NSE Nifty surged 104.70 points or 0.42% to 25,041.10.

Reliance Industries remained the country’s most valued firm. File
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

The combined market valuation of six of the top 10 valued firms jumped ₹70,527.11 crore last week, with Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) emerging as the biggest gainer.

While Hindustan Unilever Ltd, Bharti Airtel, ITC, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank were the gainers, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), State Bank of India and Bajaj Finance emerged as the laggards.

Last week, the BSE benchmark climbed 287.11 points or 0.43%.

The market valuation of Reliance Industries rallied ₹22,191.43 crore to ₹15,90,408.31 crore, the most among the top 10 firms.

Hindustan Unilever added ₹17,222.5 crore taking its valuation to ₹6,04,326.62 crore.

The valuation of Bharti Airtel jumped ₹16,953.01 crore to ₹5,36,035.96 crore and that of ITC climbed ₹7,607.26 crore to ₹5,59,071.10 crore.

The market capitalisation (mcap) of ICICI Bank rose ₹4,581.64 crore to ₹6,66,639.07 crore and that of HDFC Bank went up by ₹1,971.27 crore to ₹11,65,135.58 crore.

However, the valuation of Infosys tumbled ₹19,403.04 crore to ₹5,94,252 crore and that of Tata Consultancy Services plunged by ₹18,258.67 crore to ₹13,06,391.11 crore.

The mcap of State Bank of India (SBI) declined ₹16,019.67 crore to ₹5,14,191.52 crore and that of Bajaj Finance diminished by ₹7,137.72 crore to ₹4,87,746.65 crore.

Reliance Industries remained the country’s most valued firm followed by TCS, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Hindustan Unilever, Infosys, ITC, Bharti Airtel, State Bank of India, and Bajaj Finance.

Tiruvallur:

The district consumer forum here has directed ITC Ltd Food Division to pay a sum of Rs one lakh to a consumer for alleged unfair trade practice after he complained that packets of the corporate’s biscuit brand Sunfeast Marie Light had one biscuit lesser than that advertised on the wrapper.

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, in a recent order, also directed the company to “discontinue the selling of the disputed biscuits ‘Sunfeast Marie Light’ in Batch No.0502C36 with the specific endorsement.” It dismissed the company’s submission that the challenge made with regard to weight of biscuits would not apply. Complainant P Dillibabu of Chennai alleged there were only 15 biscuits inside the packets as against the advertised 16.

“It is argued by the learned counsel for the 1st opposite party (the company) that the product was sold only based on the weight and not on number of biscuits. Such arguments could not be accepted as the wrapper clearly provides the information to the buyers/consumers to purchase the product only based on the number of biscuits. The potential consumer would only see the wrapper to decide the purchase of the product as the product information available on the packing influences the consumer’s buying behavior and that the product information available on the wrapper or label plays a significant role in customer satisfaction,” the order said. In the present case, the paramount allegation is only with regard to lesser number of biscuits.

“Thus we answer the point accordingly holding that the 1st opposite party being the manufacturer and marketer had committed unfair trade practice and deficiency in service in misleading the consumers and that the complainant had successfully proved the same by sufficient admissible evidence,” it said.

While Dillibabu sought imposing Rs 100 crore fine on the company and the store that sold it and Rs 10 crore as compensation for the alleged act of unfair trade practice and deficiency in service, it said the reliefs sought for by the complainant was exorbitant.

The 2nd opposite party being the shop keeper had no role to play with respect to reduction in the number of biscuits. “Hence, complaint dismissed against him,” it said.

The consumer forum subsequently directed that Rs one lakh be given as compensation to Dillibabu by the company and another Rs 10,000 towards litigation expenses to be paid by it to him.

In its defence, ITC submitted that there was no deficiency or defect in the 76-gram biscuit packs of Sunfeast Marie Light in terms of the quantity that the packs were required to maintain under law.

Citing Legal Metrology Rules 2011, it contended that if a pre-packaged commodity has a declared net quantity between 50 gram to 100 gram, then a maximum permissible error in excess or in deficiency of 4.5 gram of the declared quantity was allowed on such items.

As per the rules, a package that has a declared weight of 76 g was permitted to weigh between 71.5 g to 80.5 g, it said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)