India has the second largest number of HIV/AIDS afflicted people in the world after South Africa and now threats to the corporate world of India are very real according to a World Economic Survey.
The surveys message is “50 per cent businesses expect an effect on the business due to AIDS in the next five years."Fifty-six Indian businesses were surveyed recently and 46 per cent report some impact of the AIDS virus on their company. An alarming 14 per cent reported "serious effects". The Indian businesses now believe that they will suffer in the next five years because of the AIDS pandemic.
The risk of the spread of the disease has now made many Indian business write a policy on what measures can be taken to educate and curb the problem. More firms have this in place in comparison to 2003/04 according to the survey (11% to 18%).
"Firms are confident that their existing activities will help them fend off the virus, and their relatively high level of concern over the disease offers hope that they will avoid complacency in the future," said the survey. Today HIV/AIDS is causing more concern in India than both tuberculosis and malaria. The effect of HIV/AIDS may Push ‘Back the Tide’ of progress in India. This survey was presented at the just-concluded China business summit 2005 here.
