Disaster recovery plans now acquire a prime place in corporate strategy sheets after the 26/11 attack made India’s business

leaders wake up to the threat that terrorism poses in a globalised world. Hindustan Unilever, Godrej, Marico, M&M, the Birlas and others are now setting aside funds, hiring experts and consultants to work out a viable recovery plan for organisations to survive such disasters and resume normal operations in the quickest time possible.

“The fact is that businesses are unable to bounce back immediately from the after-effects of catastrophes such as 26/11. We are now working on creating a support system as a back-up to ensure that business does not get affected in case of such an eventuality. Businesses are getting global and it is critical to have a plan B in place,”

The deterrent is that companies need to commit funds over a long period, though most of them have significantly hiked budgets on security coverage this year. There have been some industry-level discussions, led by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), to set aside a corpus to tackle terrorism and other similar acts that threaten business and life.

Transition at the top or risk planning is something most companies do not see as critical to business. “I think, Indian industry is far more resilient and has the ability and spirit to bounce back. Take bomb attacks or the 26/11 attacks last year, the industry has got back on its feet. As a group, we have tied up with international security agencies to ensure adequate precautions. But issues like terrorism are such random acts which cannot be predicted,” says Harsh Goenka, chairman of RPG Enterprises.

Top management of multinational companies now shun publicity and are now extremely tight-lipped on their travel plans and ensure that the details of the stay such as hotel rooms, vehicles used for travel and flight details are known to very few. The Godrej group has also put in place an emergency succession plan (ESP) initiated by the group HR head whereby all senior management officials including Adi Godrej, group chairman, has a nominated successor in place.