Self-regulation has failed: Lord Paul

Leading NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul has warned that steps for further regulation by the government will only lead to more people finding ways to bypass them, asserting that measures need to be worked out to improve corporate governance.

"There has been a lot of discussion about how we move forward because the self-regulation has failed and at the same time, we know that further government regulation will only lead to more people finding ways to bypass it," he added.

In his address at a function organised by the Indian Institute of Directors here last evening, Lord Paul, who is the Founder Chairman of UK-based Caparo Group, also said emphasis should be given on education which is combined with an ethical outlook to improve corporate governance in the wake of changing global circumstances.

He said the financial crisis of 2008 has shown that 'old values have become obsolete'.

"...In view of what has been happening in the world, the actual practice of corporate governance has become more important than ever before but we need to find ways of improving it," Lord Paul said.

On ways to address the issue of regulation, Lord Paul said: "I believe therefore that we should look at the whole question of education and how it is delivered. I am talking about the need not only for a top-class education for our students, but the importance of combining traditional learning with modern, international, and most of all, ethical outlook."

He also stressed on the importance of good education, specially in the backdrop of India's requirement for a skilled workforce and to be globally competitive.

"We need to improve the quality of our education and make it more global so that our young people are equipped to deal with issues in the wider world. And when they see the world from a global perspective it will bring many positives to learn as individuals and profit our society as a whole," he added.

Lord Paul, who is also the Chancellor of University of Wolverhampton and University of Westminster, said Indian universities must try to benefit from 'internationalising education' for education to be truly global. 

"For education to be global, we must enter into transformational arrangements, with academic minds from all nations learning from each other, Lord Paul said.

"In order for India to fully benefit from these strategies, we must all strive to make Indian universities world class. If India wants to have a strong voice in the world, it needs to have a strong, world-class universities," he said.

With global recovery from economic downturn slowly under way, Lord Paul said it is a perfect time to concentrate on ensuring sustainability and development for years to come "and the fundamental component of long-term economic health is the availability of a skilled workforce ready to meet the challenges ahead".

Lord Paul said India requires 500 million people to be trained by 2020 to produce a competitive labour force and ensure that there is a skilled work base to provide the necessary infrastructure for a growing population.

He said the Indian government's target of having 30 per cent of 18-24 year-olds in higher education by 2020 was an enormous one, which "is more than ten times the total number of students studying in the UK".