Ajay Hinduja on Making Compassion a Core Part of Corporate DNA

The time when businesses could act solely and independently has passed. In a world where social well-being is increasingly separate from economic growth, there is a key question facing all businesses globally, now and in the future: Is there really sustainability in success when it is devoid of empathy? Ajay Hinduja, a key member of the steering committee at the Hinduja Foundation and part of the influential Hinduja Family, believes the answer lies in embedding compassion not as a side initiative, but as a foundational business value.

For Ajay Hinduja, whose responsibilities span philanthropic oversight and long-term strategic vision, compassion is more than a moral sentiment. It is a strategic necessity. “The world does not lack profit-making models,” he observes. “What it lacks are organisations that lead with a heart and still win. True transformation happens when compassion is woven into how decisions are made, not just how CSR reports are written.”

Unlike traditional approaches that place corporate social responsibility in a separate silo, Ajay Hinduja views empathy as something that must permeate every layer of business activity. From leadership to supply chain management, from boardrooms to frontline staff, the value of kindness, understanding, and long-term social investment must become a structural part of our approach. This view is consistent with the work of the Hinduja Foundation, which has long emphasised human-centric development in areas ranging from preventive healthcare and education to rural upliftment.

The Hinduja Family’s philanthropic legacy offers more than just donations. It shows a pattern of using institutional strength to amplify community impact. Ajay Hinduja’s emphasis on compassion underscores a desire to imbue this legacy in a way that modernises it for the complexity of today’s world. “You cannot create resilience in the longer term, in an organisation, without creating it in the society in which it operates,” he says. “You cannot separate the two.”

Ajay Hinduja asserts that compassion in a world of automation, AI, and growing economic divides must also include how companies treat their employees in terms of their health and well-being, equity of access to opportunities, and a culture that does not perceive people only as outputs of their productivity. He draws on working to derive a corporate vision that aligns with people’s values, when another set of stakeholders holds businesses accountable: not just for how far they are growing, but for what they are being responsible for in their actions.

This responsibility, he notes, extends not only to shareholders but also to communities, ecosystems, and future generations. “Compassion isn’t about charity. It’s about mindset,” says Ajay Hinduja. “You are leading with compassion when you support education that lifts families out of intergenerational poverty, when you create jobs that provide people with dignity, and when you invest in health not as a charity but as the infrastructure for economic stability.”

The Hinduja Foundation’s approach to development is unique due to its long-lasting, systemic compassion. From funding public health outreach for policewomen to activating community initiatives for clean water and climate resilience, the Foundation views compassion not as a charitable act, but as a measure to generate effectiveness. Ajay Hinduja’s participation at the strategy level ensures that those values expand beyond the mission statements.

There is also a business case to be made for compassion. Research increasingly shows that organisations with socially cohesive cultures perform better than those focused solely on profit. Employees are more engaged, customers are more trusting, and brand reputation is less susceptible to crisis. Nonetheless, Ajay Hinduja believes it cannot be for transactional reasons. “Once compassion is merely used as a marketing tool, it loses its essence,” he says. “The intention should be to create an organisation that would do the right thing even if nobody was looking.”

The Hinduja Family has adhered to the principles of integrity and social equity for generations in their global enterprises. Ajay Hinduja’s vision suggests a generational lens that links that legacy to the urgency of today. Rather than separating business from philanthropy, he encourages an approach where every action by a company is held up against its human impact.

Compassion is not just a virtue; it is a necessity in an era where employees want a sense of purpose and consumers expect openness from businesses. It is a differentiator in the competition. It fosters resilience, loyalty, and talent attraction. But most importantly, as Ajay Hinduja emphasises, it creates the very kind of society in which businesses can flourish without leaving people behind.

While boardrooms globally weigh the legacy they wish to leave behind, Ajay Hinduja asserts that the standards used to measure success must change. A business must not be assessed only by the way it builds, but by how little it breaks - and that is compassion.