Important to recognise and appreciate midsize companies: Rahul Munjal

At the Fortune India Next 500 summit in Gurugram, Rahul Munjal, chairman & managing director of Hero Future Energies, talks to principal correspondent Jui Mukherjee about the need to reward, appreciate and recognise midsize companies, and why India needs a 20-year economic vision.

Edited excerpts:

The Fortune India Next 500 list is a celebration of India’s top midsize companies, why do you think these companies are important for the Indian economy?

The first 500 (Fortune India 500) are always in the limelight any which way. And of late we are giving a lot of impetus to startups as well. So these other hardworking companies, who have worked very hard to be where they are, and they are of a decent size and scale. They were underrepresented, especially in the media. I am glad you have come up with the list that appreciates these companies, that are going to be on the main list, maybe one year from now or five years from now. They have aspirations of being on the main list. You will see them on the main list sooner than later. So it’s good to recognise them sooner, it’s good to encourage them, and it’s good to reward them, appreciate them and celebrate them.

These companies are important to the economy and offer a lot of job oppurtunities etc. What do you think the government should do in terms of policy to give a boost to these midsize companies?

India is run by the politicians, the bureaucracy, the judiciary, and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). All four are responsible for making India, developing India, or taking it to the next level, and taking our growth from 7.5% today to a 8.5% or 9%. We need to get all four of these working together; they should all be like well-aligned wheels of a vehicle, and they should be moving with the same intention, with the same vision, with the same speed. We are only as good as the weakest link here. We always look at politicians to do things for us, but we have never sat back and said other than politicians who all are driving this country. What I’d like for the Next 500 or the 500 after that, for the industry as a whole, we want an economic vision for the country which is a 20-year vision, which does not change regardless of who is in power, and we leave politics aside, and economy and business aside, and let development be development. And development agenda does not get hampered by who the ruling party is.