The Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs hosted a high-level delegation from the National Productivity Council to explore strategic collaboration across training, research, productivity enhancement, sustainability and compliance support, aligning institutional efforts with the national vision of Viksit Bharat.
The National Productivity Council delegation was led by Director General Smt Neeraja Shekhar and Deputy Director General Group Shri Umashankar Prasad. The delegation was welcomed by Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs Shri Gyaneshwar Kumar Singh, who felicitated the visiting dignitaries with a shawl and memento.
Addressing the interaction, Shri Gyaneshwar Kumar Singh emphasised the evolving demands of industry and the imperative for institutions to remain responsive to national priorities. He said India’s leadership has articulated a clear long-term vision for economic and social transformation, and institutions must contribute both individually and collaboratively to achieve the objective of a developed India. He underlined the importance of convergence between policy-oriented institutions and implementation-focused bodies to deliver measurable outcomes.
During the visit, heads of various schools and centres of the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs made detailed presentations outlining the institute’s mandate and activities. The presentations highlighted IICA’s multifaceted role in education, training, research, advocacy and advisory services, and its support to both government and private sector initiatives in areas such as corporate governance, sustainability, compliance and capacity building.
Speaking on the occasion, Smt Neeraja Shekhar traced the origins of the National Productivity Council to its establishment in 1958, when India faced acute resource constraints and an urgent need to raise productivity across sectors. She recalled the historic productivity delegation to Japan that played a seminal role in institutionalising productivity movements in the country.
Smt Shekhar said that over the decades, NPC has expanded its scope beyond the industrial sector to agriculture, services, MSMEs, sustainability, green productivity and ESG-linked initiatives. She highlighted NPC’s active engagement with the Asian Productivity Organization, which facilitates international exposure through inter-country study visits, expert exchanges and benchmarking frameworks. These initiatives, she said, support assessments of industrial readiness, organisational capability, financial robustness and manufacturing maturity, particularly for MSMEs.
Both institutions expressed strong intent to move forward with structured collaboration by leveraging IICA’s strengths in policy research, training and advisory services alongside NPC’s implementation-driven productivity expertise. The proposed convergence aims to support India’s transition towards a high-income, competitive, innovative and sustainable economy.
The interaction concluded with consensus on developing actionable collaboration frameworks that align productivity enhancement with national development goals. The programme was coordinated by Dr Naveen Sirohi, Head of the School of Finance and Management, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs.
