Next-gen entrepreneurs are leading the charge for sustainability, says Sanjeev Bikhchandani

In an age where businesses operate at the intersection of technology, consumer consciousness, and sustainability, the role of leadership is evolving rapidly. Sanjeev Bikhchandani, Co-founder and Executive Vice Chairman of InfoEdge, shares his insights on how next-generation leaders, institutions, and governments are shaping a purpose-driven future in an exclusive conversation with Storyboard18.

According to Bikhchandani, the current crop of entrepreneurs is far more committed to sustainability than their predecessors. Bikhchandani pointed to personal experiences with his own children, who exhibit a strong preference for sustainable living, opting for public transport over private cars, and questioning consumption patterns at home. He sees this shift extending to the business world, where younger leaders are making conscious decisions about sustainability.

A notable example is Zomato, the food delivery giant where InfoEdge holds a major stake. Zomato's commitment to sustainability is evident in its operations—35-40% of its delivery fleet now uses electric vehicles, and customers have the option to request no plastic cutlery when ordering. Bikhchandani noted that these changes were not prompted by external pressure but were driven internally by a belief that sustainability was the right path for the company and its stakeholders. For Bikhchandani, Zomato's actions are a perfect example of how the next generation of business leaders are proactively embracing the challenges of sustainability without waiting for regulations to mandate change.

Bikhchandani stresses the crucial role of governments in fostering sustainability, particularly through policy and regulation. The Indian government's efforts to promote electric vehicles (EVs) and renewable energy sources are key examples of how public policy can accelerate the transition to a greener economy. Without such government initiatives, he believes, the widespread adoption of EVs and renewable energy would not have been possible.

In addition to policy, Bikhchandani emphasised the importance of building awareness and education around sustainability. He referenced to the successful movement of banning firecrackers during Diwali in Delhi, a campaign led by NGOs targeting school children. When the next generation takes ownership of these causes, they can drive significant change in society—something Bikhchandani sees as a hopeful sign for the future.

Below are the excerpts of the conversation.

Q: In your interactions with young business leaders today, companies that you're investing in, did you notice anything different in their approach to building businesses today? Do you see a little bit more of a sort of a sustainability consciousness creeping in? Or this idea of the new bottom line as well - which is people, planet, purpose, and of course, profits. Are you noticing any change?

Bikhchandani: I think the next generation actually is pretty much committed to sustainability and not just profit. They are a lot more conscious of the need to be sustainable than perhaps my generation and perhaps the generation before me.

I see that in my children as well. They and their friends talk a different language on sustainability. They are down to the fact that, I don't really want to own a car, I'm happy going by an Uber. I'm happy traveling by Metro, I don't need to use private transport, and that often happens. And I'm saying, there's a car, there's a driver, you can take it, but they are like no. And really, the agenda very often at home is driven by the children - what is to be consumed, what is not to be consumed.

But if I look at the business world, and I take a company like Zomato, where we are the largest shareholders, I'm about 20 years older than Deepinder Goyal, who is the founder of Zomato. We didn't have to tell him anything. We didn't think of it, actually. But down to little things like, 35%-40% of the delivery vehicles are EVs now, and that percentage is going up. You have the option of telling the restaurant when you're ordering, do not send any plastic cutlery. So no cutlery needed, I'll use my own. A lot of people do that. Down to recycling stuff. So Zomato is trying to be as sustainable as possible. And we didn't have to tell them these things, and neither did anybody else. They decided on their own because they felt it's the right thing to do. They felt their employees would prefer that and they felt that the customers would prefer that.

Q: But what is the role then of governments? We spoke earlier about you know starting young, inculcating that sense of responsibility in younger generations. Take that to the business world and tell me what is the role of institutions, of government, our education institutions, what is the role there and how will it eventually of course impact growth, profit, all of the things that we all care about?

Bikhchandani: I think the role of government is huge. Of course when you are running public sector companies or utilities owned by the government, then of course you have a direct sort of role and responsibility. But even when you're not, the kind of regulations you make, the kind of laws, the kind of tax policies, the kind of way you target your subsidies, all that the government plays a role. I don't think EVs would have been possible in India without a government taking an active role. I don't think in a country where more than 70% of our power source is thermal, if you want to shift it to greener more sustainable, without government policies, you can’t do that. So the government has a huge role and apart from these policies and regulations and taxation and subsidies, it's also about building awareness. The government has a huge role there. I think it's happening and I think there's actually a generational shift here like I said. The next generation is much much more responsible, I think, than my generation is or has been and I think that's a good thing.

So just to give you a case in point, the movement to ban firecrackers in Delhi during Diwali, that movement was led by NGOs who said we'll do it for school children because if the child in the family is saying it won't happen, it doesn't happen. So next gen is the answer.

Q: We are in a very high tech age, acceleration in technology. Tell me a little bit about what you're seeing in terms of career opportunities for the next generation in building this future and helping this transition to greener economies, to a better planet, safer communities?

Bikhchandani: I think career opportunities are many many more, career options are many many more than 20-30 years ago. I remember graduating from school, we would do engineering or you would do medicine and if you have to do a BA or BCom, that's not really a professional degree and then what will you do afterwards and you can't get a job and you know what's going to happen. So we were striving to get into some sort of professional course or qualification so that we can get a job. Middle-class India was like that. Of course there are people who are not middle-class, who are perhaps poorer, they had fewer options, they didn't have the education. But today we are seeing many many more career options.

Now when you're starting out in your career and you're from a poor family, chances are you won't worry a lot about sustainability and say I won't take this job, because it's not sustainable. You will say I'll take this job, I'm getting it and earning a salary and that will be the priority. But if I come back to the companies we talked about, one other aspect I want to talk about is, let's take our company InfoEdge. Until about five or six or seven years ago, sustainability was not a discussion for us. I remember I went to an investor conference, talking to investors and across the table I was asked, what's your ESG score like? I didn't know what ESG was.

I said, ESG? He says, I've got a report which says you are B+, but on everything else you're A+ or A. So he gave me a report, somebody had done some rating. I had not seen it earlier. So I came back from the conference and I, you know, championed it internally, there's something called ESG. And we have to improve in this area. So very often it's led by governments, by next-gen employees, but also by investors and shareholders. The thought was planted in our head and we learned that actually we are not B+, we are probably A-. It's just that we haven't talked about it or disclosed the information. So that was an easy fix and then from A- to A and A+ we had to make an effort. But the point is that very often investors, foreign investors especially, and this was a foreign investor, they sometime are thought leaders and they ask these questions and then for listed companies it matters.