The Governing Board on the Auroville Economy

The Board noted the following in relation to the present status of the economy of Auroville:

1) The Mother had envisaged Auroville as a self-supporting township. Auroville is not yet self-supporting and is unable to meet the basic needs of all residents of Auroville.

2 It is not clear how many adult Aurovilians are contributing through work towards the realisation of the aims and objectives of Auroville.

3) Auroville’s cost of living seems to be high.

4) Auroville is still a monetary transactional society.

5) There is no pan-Auroville annual budget.

6) There is no medium and long-term economy plan.

7) Human resources are not evaluated for their contribution to Auroville after the completion of the newcomer period.

8) There is a large number of trusts and units with multiple GST registrations and accounting systems.

The Board is of the view that the following action needs to be taken in relation to the economy of Auroville:

1) Preparation of an annual Auroville budget that includes all resources and all needs.

2) Preparation of a medium and long-term economy plan including financial plans of the income-generating units of Auroville.

3) Make capital available for the growth of existing income-generating units and start-up capital for new income-generating units.

4) Establish an innovation and incubation centre for the youth to be actively engaged.

5) Strengthen and support the knowledge economy.

6) All Auroville lands, buildings and other assets must be utilized to generate collective resources for Auroville as whole.

7) Use some of the outlying lands of Auroville for income generation through joint ventures or ventures in which Auroville has a passive stake.

8) Elimination of internal money exchange.

9) Ensure that all basic needs of all residents are met and that all residents contribute to the realisation of Auroville.

10) Enhance Auroville food production to meet the needs of Auroville.

11) Simplify the governance and organisation structures (trusts, units, activities and committees).

12) Integrated common accounting systems to be implemented for more effective and transparent financial management.

13) Contributions by income-generating units to be reviewed (rationale of the 33% contribution; utilisation of surpluses).

14) Reduce construction costs with innovative construction practices and effective and transparent price discovery mechanisms.

15) The Mother envisaged Auroville as a self-supporting township. All Auroville residents are expected to contribute to achieving this goal and work for the collective welfare of Auroville.