At 9 am on a bright Friday morning at Taj Lands End in Bandra, the sea outside felt unusually calm. Inside the hall, however, the energy at the CFBP Leadership Summit 2.0 was anything but calm. As a life and executive coach who works with leaders in India and Mauritius, I found myself watching not just what was said, but how people felt as they spoke about power, ethics and responsibility.
The heart of CFBP and its legacy
The Council for Fair Business Practices, or CFBP, has always positioned itself as a bridge between consumers and businesses. Supported by the Food Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection Department of Maharashtra, and the generosity of sponsors such as Bajaj Electricals and P. N. Gadgil and Sons, it has a very human ambition. The legacy of its founders, Shekhar Bajaj, J. R. D. Tata, Ramkrishna Bajaj and S. P. Godrej, hangs quietly in the room like a moral compass. Under the current leadership of President Swapnil Kothari, CFBP continues to remind Indian business that profit without principles is simply a sophisticated form of exploitation.
For Indian and Mauritian readers who may not know CFBP well, its vision is simple yet demanding. It wants business confidence that is grounded in best business practices, transparency and respect between providers of goods and services and their users, for the ultimate benefit of society and the nation. In practice, that means a stubborn insistence on ethical leadership, honest communication and genuine care for the consumer. In psychological terms, CFBP is asking companies to move from a self protective mindset to a relationship mindset.
Panel 1: Leadership in the age of artificial intelligence
Panel 1, “Leadership in the Age of Artificial Intelligence”, opened with Harish Mehta, Founder of Onward Technologies and Co founder of NASSCOM, Dr Indumati Shahani, Founding President and Chancellor of ATLAS SkillTech University, and A. P. Parigi, from the Board of Directors of Bennett Coleman and Co. Ltd., all guided by the sharp moderation of Swapnil Kothari. Listening to them, I was struck by a quiet tension in the room. On one hand, there was excitement about AI, analytics, automation and scale. On the other hand, there was an unspoken fear that human beings might become side characters in their own organisations.
From a coaching lens, this is the central psychological challenge of AI. When leaders over identify with efficiency, they slowly disconnect from empathy. A dashboard is easier to look at than a disappointed employee. Yet fair business practices demand that we keep the human being at the centre. The panellists kept bringing the discussion back to responsibility. It is not enough to build intelligent systems, we must build conscious systems. If AI amplifies bias, secrecy or greed, then it is not artificial intelligence, it is artificial indifference.
I found myself thinking about my clients in India and Mauritius who secretly worry that they will be “left behind” if they do not adopt AI fast enough. The real risk is the opposite. Leaders who chase every new tool without a moral compass lose the trust of their teams and customers. What CFBP Leadership Summit 2.0 highlighted beautifully is that AI ethics is not an abstract academic debate. It is a daily decision about how we collect data, how we respect privacy, how we communicate choices and how we correct mistakes.
Panel 2: Inclusion as strategy, not slogan
Panel 2, “Inclusion: Strategic Advantage or Challenge for a Leader”, brought another layer of depth. Anup Rau, Managing Director and CEO of General Central Insurance Company Limited, Shubika Bilkha, Leadership and Performance Coach and Partner at EdpowerU, and Sudhir Ashta, Co founder of UnLOAD and Patron Member of CFBP, were skilfully moderated by Nikitsha Chopra, Executive Committee Member of CFBP and Vice President India at Financial Times in London. If Panel 1 spoke to our minds about technology, Panel 2 spoke to our hearts about belonging.
Inclusion is often treated as a fashionable word for presentations. In real life it is much more uncomfortable. It means asking who is missing from the room, whose voice is never heard, which colleague gets interrupted and which consumer is always an afterthought. As I listened to the panellists, I noticed small nods around the hall when honest points were made about gender, class and organisational privilege. You could feel the relief. Someone was finally naming what many professionals silently experience.
From a psychological viewpoint, exclusion creates micro fractures in a person’s identity. People start to question their worth, not just their performance. For leaders, this is dangerous. An excluded employee will eventually disengage or rebel. The conversation at CFBP Leadership Summit 2.0 reminded me that inclusion is not charity. It is enlightened self interest. When people feel seen and safe, they think more creatively, challenge flawed ideas and protect the organisation when things go wrong.
Fair business practices as a daily mirror
This is where CFBP’s focus on fair business practices becomes even more relevant. A code of conduct is not just a legal document. It is a daily mirror. Do we really listen to the consumer who complains, or do we treat him as a problem to be managed. Do we design services that an ordinary Indian or Mauritian family can actually access, or only products that look good in glossy reports. Do we allow young employees to question practices that do not feel ethical, or do we quietly punish their courage.
As I sat in the networking lunch after the sessions, watching leaders move between tables, I thought about how rare it is to find a platform that speaks simultaneously about AI, inclusion and ethics. Usually, conferences in Mumbai or Port Louis are either obsessed with technology or lost in motivational clichés. CFBP Leadership Summit 2.0 was different. It asked harder questions. What kind of country are we building if our businesses are efficient but unfair. What kind of society are we shaping if consumers must constantly protect themselves from the very institutions that claim to serve them.
A call to leaders in India and Mauritius
For my clients and readers in India and Mauritius, my invitation is simple. Do not treat fair business practices as a compliance requirement. Think of them as a leadership advantage. In crowded markets, trust is the only sustainable differentiator. A company that honours CFBP’s mission, that protects consumers and empowers employees, will always outlast a company that wins only through clever marketing or legal fine print.
Personally, I left Taj Lands End with a renewed respect for the Council for Fair Business Practices (CFBP), its President Swapnil Kothari and every speaker who contributed insight and courage. Leadership in the age of artificial intelligence will remain confusing. Inclusion will remain messy. Ethical dilemmas will not disappear. Yet gatherings like CFBP Leadership Summit 2.0 show that Indian business has both the talent and the conscience to do better.
As a life and executive coach deeply committed to ethical leadership in India and Mauritius, I see CFBP not just as an organisation, but as a partner in shaping a more conscious business culture. My hope is that more leaders, professionals and consumers will join this conversation and strengthen the network around fair, human centred business. When we align intelligence with integrity and ambition with accountability, we do not just grow companies. We heal trust, and in the process, we grow as human beings.
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