New Delhi: On 29 January 2026, the International Labour Organization convened "Multi-stakeholder dialogue on Responsible Business Conduct for decent work: Partnering for progress'', bringing together 41 participants from employers' and workers' organizations, government institution, enterprises, and other key partners to deliberate and chart a collective way forward for advancing Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) for decent work.
Ms Michiko Miyamoto, Director, DWT South Asia and Country Office for India, opened the workshop, underscoring the growing need and urgency to address responsible business conduct in the "rapidly evolving global trade environment", and drawing attention to the "distinctive and complementary roles played by different parties in promoting RBC in business operations and supply chains."
In the keynote address, Mr Fumio Yamazaki, Minister (Economics and Development), the Embassy of Japan in India, referred to the strong economic partnership between India and Japan. He stated that, "the importance of embedding responsible business conduct across borders and throughout supply chains becomes even greater".
Paving the way for a collaborative approach to promote RBC for decent work in India
A central highlight of the workshop was the official launch of the Bipartite Roadmap on promoting RBC for decent work in India, a first-of-its-kind collaborative approach developed by employers' and workers' organizations through year-long capacity building efforts, technical consultations, and dialogues facilitated under the ILO programme Building Responsible Value Chains in Asia through Promotion of Decent Work in Business Operations (Phase II). A joint presentation of the roadmap was made by Mr Satish Anand, Executive Committee Member, All India Organisation of Employers (AIOE) and Mr RD Chandrasekhar, National Secretary, Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), demonstrating their shared ownership and commitment towards the cause. Mr Anand stressed the responsibility of enterprises in "ensuring the growth of the workers along with the growth of the employers" and expressed keenness in "implementing the roadmap in spirit and not just on paper". From the workers' perspective, Mr Chandrasekhar corroborated these views and foresaw "the roadmap offering better opportunities for the workforce" and drew focus to the importance of embedding RBC into national frameworks and ensuring inclusive implementation of RBC across the value chain.
The Bipartite Roadmap is structured around the five areas addressed by the ILO's Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy (MNE Declaration), the ILO instrument on responsible business conduct. The roadmap calls for the establishment of a national tripartite-plus committee on advancing RBC for decent work and the promotion of MNE Declaration, among others. Ms Miyamoto, Director, DWT South Asia and Country Office for India, described this historic achievement as a "very unique, special moment" that reflects deep, ground-up collaboration between employers and workers.
Sharing experiences and defining next steps
Against this backdrop, two panel discussions explored practical actions and next steps required to jointly advance RBC for decent work. In the first panel on fostering collaboration for RBC, Dr Garima Dadhich, Associate Professor, the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA), emphasized the "need for institutionalising multi-stakeholder engagement as RBC for decent work cannot be delivered through government or business action alone". Referring to India's scale and workforce diversity, Mr A. N. Prashant, Chief Operating Officer - Skills and Labour. EFI/CII, emphasized that RBC must be implemented "uniformly at all levels," through inclusive engagement of all stakeholders. From the workers' perspective, Mr Saji Narayanan, Former President, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), expressed that trust and continuous dialogue between employers and workers are essential to ensure that commitments result in tangible improvements on the ground.
The second panel focused on practical implementation of the roadmap. Mr Yutaro Murakami, Manager - Corporate Governance and Legal Affairs, Yazaki India Pvt. Ltd., Mr Sunil Mutha, Deputy CEO, The Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA), and Ms Kalpana Desai, Member, Executive Committee, Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) discussed how negative impacts on labour rights and human rights in supply chains can be identified and addressed through company action, sector-wide learning tools, and effective social dialogue, highlighting the importance of collaboration in translating responsible business conduct into concrete improvements at the workplace level.
In the latter part of the workshop, participants worked in small groups to discuss the way forward, building on the bipartite roadmap. There was a broad agreement that stronger compliance with national labour laws is the foundation for advancing RBC. Participants emphasized the importance of developing a shared understanding of RBC and related reporting frameworks, enabled through continued dialogue and capacity-building for employers, workers and wider stakeholders. The discussions also highlighted the need for a platform for social dialogue to review progress and follow up on actions. As a practical next step, participants suggested building on the existing inter-ministerial working group on RBC and expanding it to include employers' and workers' organizations, to support sustained coordination and implementation of RBC for decent work following the guidance offered by the ILO MNE Declaration.
The workshop was organized as part of the ILO project, "Building Responsible Value Chains in Asia through the Promotion of Decent Work in Business Operations (Phase II)," which is funded by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), Japan. The project aims to promote inclusive, responsible and sustainable enterprises and decent work in supply chains through capacity-building programmes for enterprises and ILO's constituents - government, employers and workers - in four Asian countries including India.
