SUTRA 2024
A modern residence designed for mindful living — blending architecture, nature, and light into a timeless home by the coast.
SUTRA, the Sustainable Trade Summit, is a platform conceptualized and hosted by IDH to address the strategic imperatives and build systemic solutions for the challenges faced by market actors as they work to integrate ethical, sustainable, and responsible principles into sourcing and procurement mandates. SUTRA 2024, themed Accelerating Responsible Sourcing in Indian Markets, was held on 17th and 18th October 2024 at The Oberoi, Gurugram, with Sattva Consulting serving as Knowledge Partner.
The inaugural Summit in 2023 offered insights into strategies for inclusive business, the new competencies procurement teams need to enable this shift, and the role of government in catalysing sustainability across supply chains, while also reflecting on the urgency of deforestation free supply chains, gender transformative business models, and the financial innovations needed to support value chain transformation at scale.
As the challenges to building sustainable supply chains deepen, SUTRA works to ensure companies have the knowledge and action resources needed for elevated participation in responsible sourcing. The Summit brings together best practices in responsible sourcing through thought leadership, case studies, and active dialogue between businesses, civil society, and government, and forms part of a wider SUTRA Ecosystem that aims to launch pre competitive business collaborations across multiple sectors, directing investment toward smallholder communities for regenerative and climate resilient agriculture while finding solutions to shared supply chain challenges.
Building on that momentum, SUTRA 2024 continued as a forum for cross sectoral collaboration, helping stakeholders set and systematically meet responsible sourcing targets. The Summit’s key sessions focused on sustainable procurement practices, regenerative agriculture, and innovative financing, alongside breakout sessions offering deep dives into shared challenges and solutions within specific value chains, including spices, palm oil, coffee, and textiles and apparel, bringing together industry leaders, policymakers, and innovators to drive sustainable sourcing practices and transform global supply chains.
DAY 1 · OPENING | Welcome & Opening Remarks
Jagjeet Singh Kandal, Country Director, IDH India, alongside Global CEO Daan Wensing, opened the 2024 summit to accelerate pre-competitive collaboration.
DAY 1 · KEYNOTE | Voice from the Ground
Josma Kanoje, a woman farmer from Madhya Pradesh, took center stage to deliver a powerful, grounding keynote address.
DAY 1 · FIRESIDE | CEO Sourcing Leadership
Top executives from Patanjali Foods, AVT McCormick, and HSBC India unpacked the strategic role of corporate chiefs in driving responsible supply chains.
DAY 1 · DIALOGUES | The Gender Factor & ROI
Panels from UN Women and organic cotton sectors examined gender-transformative models and launched critical safety frameworks for the tea sector.
DAY 1 · PARALLEL SESSIONS | Inclusion & Living Income
Sessions tackled building inclusive chains with ITC and the Ministry of Rural Development, alongside visionary forums on textile waste clusters.
DAY 1 · SAFETY & CONSUMPTION | Safe Jobs & Consumer Roles
The National Safety Council and UNDP advanced labor conditions via LABS MoU signings, while FabIndia and CEEW mapped out sustainable consumer habits.
DAY 2 · REGENERATIVE AG | Mainstreaming Soil Health
The Ministry of Agriculture, PepsiCo India, and H&M aligned on scaling regenerative farming and sustainable material procurement across India.
DAY 2 · DIALOGUES | Decoding Living Wages
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and WageIndicator Foundation unpicked wage benchmarks for the agricultural sector.
DAY 2 · SECTOR DEEP-DIVES | Coffee, Palm, & Spice Realities
Parallel panels brought together industry giants like Hindustan Unilever, Tata Coffee, Godrej Agrovet, and the World Spice Organisation to address climate adaptation and food safety.
DAY 2 · TECH & FINANCING | Agritech PPPs & Climate Capital
The World Economic Forum, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Caspian mapped out tech-driven partnerships and co-financing models for climate resilience.
CLOSING | A Resilient Blueprint Forward
Shri Faiz Ahmed Kidwai (Additional Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture) delivered the closing address, cementing policy and business alignment for the future.