Dnote Xpress, Issue #10, Jan 2015

8/9/2019 Dnote Xpress, Issue #10, Jan 2015

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The Tata Group spent Rs 1,000 crore on corporate socialresponsibility (CSR) in 2013-14.

Aditya Birla Group spent Rs 200 crore on CSR in fiscal2014, which is a little over 2% of the net profit from India.

38.6 million people benefit by SAIL's healthcareinitiatives, which include 57 primary health centers and21 hospitals.

As per recent report by Mercer, Education emerged as themost favoured area, followed by community-baseddevelopment and environment sustainability for CSRspend by companies.

Only 11 of the top hundred companies implement CSRprogrammes through their own foundations.

Ikea foundation will invest another Rs 190 crore in India inthe year 2015.

Food for Thought..."The CSR activities being performed by Coal India, NTPC and

enterprises run by Tatas in Jharkhand are so visible and

pronounced that their impact is felt at the very first sight

because of the developmental work that these have been

undertaking to build connectivity and linkages."-Jayant Sinha

Minister of State for Finance

"Top leadership is responsible for looking at the big picture forthe company CSR is a vital part of that."

-K VenkataramananCEO & MD, L&T

Our Target Is To train a Million People In 10 Years.-Adi Godrej

When it comes to fulfilling my duties, I want to be known as anhonest man.-Bharat Ratna JRD Tata

Corporates can offer mobile connectivity to 50,000 villages

through CSR.

-FICCI

Hear the Inuencers Speak...

New Delhi, January 20, 2015: Sustainabilityformed the core of One-day National Conventionon Corporate Governance and Sustainability & IODAnnual Meet, organised by Institute of Directors onDecember 20, 2014 at The Ashoka Hotel, New Delhi.

Fiinovation participated in the event which broughttogether leading national and business leaders,policy makers, investment bankers, multilateralinstitutions and thought leaders from across theworld.

Providing an insight during the panel discussion on'Effective Corporate Governance for Growth &Sustainability', Mr. Soumitro Chakraborty, Chief

Executive Officer, Innovative Financial Advisors Pvt. Ltd. said, "Sustainability is still not a core strategy for corporations in India. Itfails to be a core issue for corporations who are not addressing it adequately."

The issue of credibility of data was discussed which the panellists said eventually lies in the principle of the organisation that

ensures how the organisation understands and evaluates data. Speaking of a delusion which exists between economy andgrowth, Mr. Chakraborty said, "We need to understand these two imperatives especially if we talk of economy. Sustainabilitytends to take a backseat, since talks around economy are representative of primary profits and primary inferences." He furtherexplained how the problem arises when we do not align economy with growth.

Drawing an analogy of an economy to a monster which we need to keep feeding into and end up forgetting growth, which ismore human inclusive, he said that the economy delusion factor exists across the industry.

Ensuring corporate governance and sustainability requires suitable corporate governance structures that address sustainabilityas a core issue in the board, since we cannot expect sustainability to be addressed down under. Elaborating on howsustainability needs to be implemented at the policy level, Mr Chakraborty said if the top management is serious aboutsustainability, they need to start at a policy level and not at an execution stage. Speaking of the two percent mandate, heexplained that ad hoc contribution to social projects does not feed into the sustainability discourse. Since sustainability andsocial responsibility need to start when we start making policies and should not be a part of the last page of the annual report ofcorporations.

His session created a stir and ensured an active participation from the panellists who spoke of interesting developments andactivities in the field of sustainability in their organisations

Fiinovation Deliberates on Sustainability @ IOD


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CSR in IndiaCSR in IndiaIncorporating a Cultural ChangeIt has been a year after the amendments to the Companies Act have come into play, especially Section 135. CorporateSocial Responsibility has been the buzz word among the business community over the last few years. The amendment hasensured for the first time in history that voluntary and informal activities are included under the legal mandate.

Even though the essence of CSR has been growing since the last two decades, the new law is more inclined towardsbringing about a cultural change in the operations of the business fraternity. Currently, the aura created ensures that notonly those companies who fall in the CSR ambit, but even those who don't fall are feeling obliged to initiate socialdevelopment programmes.

This amendment has created a stir and has been criticized for the challenges involved in setting up credible CSRprogrammes that go beyond the letter of the law. Many industrialists and organizations have been vocal that the 2% rulingcould lead to forced philanthropy, check box behaviour, corruption, and manipulation of data for avoidance to comply. AsRatan Tata says, we have a phenomenon which is meant to be good but is going to be somewhat chaotic ... we don't as yetknow what kind of monitoring there'll be in terms of how well this money is used. As per Azim Premji, 2% on CSR is a lot,especially for companies that are trying to scale up in these difficult times. It must not be imposed. Many companies arestill grappling with new rules and trying to understand how to avoid the loose connotations associated with CSR.

There are suggestions on how an organization shouldn't just be a cheque writing one and how it should design their CSRstrategy aligned to the organizational goal, and how working with civil society organizations is important. The loomingconcern is, can a government-mandated CSR be a social development course for a nation in which over 900 million have amobile connection but only 600 million (36% of the population) has access to a clean toilet? I reckon being optimistic

about the amendment and furthered by the words of George Bernard Shaw who said that progress is impossible withoutchange and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.

A recent survey by Mercer suggests that CSR is becoming increasingly important with 81% of the corporationsaccepting it to be an important component of the overall business strategy. These are good signs as more companiesare planning to establish CSR and Sustainability departments within their organization in the next two years.

A review of the current landscape makes me believe that companies need to diversify the CSR activities for an overallholistic development of society. The development in India which continues to increase the ambit of the operations hasbeen a positive sign. The main focus areas for CSR investment have been on Education, Community Development andEnvironment Sustainability within the organization. The inclusion of sanitation after the Prime Minister's call of 'SwachBharat' has allowed many corporations to come into the foray. However, I believe crucial areas such as Climate Change,

Women Empowerment, Rural Infrastructure Development, Water Purity, Clean Energy, Sports, Wildlife, and Human Rightsamong others need to be included.

Overall I believe the CSR journey has started off well and in the long run it is bound to create a positive impact. Howeverthere is a need to address the challenges and strong monitoring and evaluation mechanism should be brought in place.Penal provisions for non-compliance are still a debatable topic but to bring about a cultural change, a law must bestringent. Lastly, I would like to conclude by saying our actions change our minds, our minds can change our behaviour andour behaviour can change the outcomes.

Rahul Choudhury

We are Successful Because

We Contribute to Society...


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India is shifting its gears of development from an emerging market towards a developed economy, the pressure of limiting theever expanding disparity between the industrial profit and overall human development index is slowly becoming a challenge.

With the policy on our side it is not a matter of mandate anymore but a question of commitment that the industry beholdstowards the society at large.

This social responsibility is not limited to the social arena only but to all the stakeholders of any specific objective or corporationwhich includes the employees, customers, promoters, suppliers, vendors among others. The onus of limiting this disparity cannotbe justified by an idea running through times immemorial that the responsibility of overall human development in a society liesonly with the government negating the responsibility of action taken by the industry to derive their corporate profit.

Its time to realize that addressing such issues of social imbalance is no longer a matter of discussion but its a requirement ofsurvival.

The concept of social responsibility has been long in practice in the West with an understanding that Corporate SocialResponsibility is not a part of contribution towards the society through the medium of currency on a percentile of profit derived.

It is now being termed in the West as Corporate Responsibility wherein the corporations have understood that CSR merelycannot be a percentile of profit but has to be embedded in a responsible behavioral mechanism enabled to derive the profitthroughout the process chain. This concept of social responsibility has to soon be imbibed by the Indian diaspora as well.

The Indian market are governed with the help of a consumer base, aged 18-40 years, which is socially aware, connected ,enlightened with the developments in the social and financial arena around them. It would be a wrong assumption if we thinkthat businesses will sustain without generating a good feeling factor behind the products they manufacture and the servicesthey render.

Corporate responsibility is a part of a behavioral mechanism wherein every system and the sub- system within a process has toadhere to certain ethical and social mannerism. Every penny that is profited has to be responsibly sourced, a neglect on theseaspects and a myopic vision to derive profits will not only have destructive results over a long term but will also have catastrophicresults in the business sustainability of the corporation at large.

This kind of an adherence has to be brought in the policy documents and have to be monitored and audited appropriately. One ofthe responsibility mechanism is to carry out a Social Impact Assessment and Environment Impact Assessment before the launchof the product or the services. It has to be then ensured by the leaders thatadvisory from such assessments merely should not remain letters in thepolicy document but should be transformed into a mechanism of operation aswell. The basic fundamental on which Corporate Social Responsibilityperforms is simple, topdown and not bottomsup. The leadership of anorganization herein has to decide to adhere to certain responsibility standardsand ensure such a policy is followed.

Being truly justified years ago by the 'Father of the Nation: Shri Mahatma

Gandhi' , addressing a business conference quoted " The leaders oftomorrow will not be known by muscles they fletch but will be known by

their capacity to take community along with themselves and their

development at large.

This also goes on to establish the fact that Corporate SocialResponsibility is not a very young phenomenon but in fact hasbeen debated and has been a relevant topic since years. It istherefore now an imperative to understand that the corporationsand businesses cannot any longer afford to differentiate betweentheir direct beneficiaries, i.e. consumers, suppliers, employees andthe indirect beneficiaries which includes society and environmentin which they operate. Businesses will now have to understand that

a sustainable and a profit oriented business can only sustain,survive and grow in a stable environment and with social harmony.Corporate Social Responsibility is not merely policy document buta mechanism of action to ensure that harmony.

CSR: The thin line between Commitment and

Mandate

Mr. Soumitro ChakrabortyCEO, Innovave Financial Advisors Pvt. Ltd.(Fiinovaon)


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VIEW OF GOOD CITIZENWith Ecological Sustainability as the corner stone of the charter, for the

last 15 years WIPRO has been deftly following an integrative approach

towards bringing together Environment, Business and People.

Over the years we have realized and learnt that a corporation's survival and progress is a function of three key

vectors- the corporation itself, the society in which it operates and the environment that envelops all of these. By

design, these are also the vectors that form the crux of our corporate citizenship philosophy and the base of our allsustainability initiatives, both internal and external."

Anurag Behar Chief Sustainability Officer

Wipro Limited

Wipros IniativesEcological:Minimize internal footprint on energy, water and waste

Education and Community:Work jointly with education & civil society networks on sustainability programs

Workplace:Promote employee diversity, empowerment & continuous learning

Customer Stewardship:Provide products and solutions that enable customers to become greener

Public Relation & Policies:Shape policies by engaging with government, NGOs & industry networks

CASE Study: Pedagogy of WiproWIPRO goes back to school with WATIS (WIPRO APPLYING THOUGHT IN SCHOOLS)

WATIS is an initiative to help in societal change and development. This initiative is long-term, deliberate and focused. Theintent of this initiative is to improve the Quality of education so that life opportunities and possibilities are expandedfor everyone, including the most under privileged.

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Objective : Coalesce civilsociety and build capacityon the ground for systemicreform in education

Over the years:

Partner network of 30 of Indias foremost educational

organizations

Worked with 500 schools and 10,500 educators across 17

states reaching around 500,000 students

Helped rebuild and on occasion build social organizations

(supported 6 partners in organization development)

Supported 6 people on Wipro Education Fellowship so far

Currently:

Deep partnership-projects on the ground with 19 partner

organizations across the country.

20 projects in school reform reaching out to over 750 schools

Supporting 10 organizations in building capacity for workingin school reform

4 people currently on senior fellowship

Direction:

Take the work of our network of organizations to reach every

district in the country

Rahul Jain

WiproWATIS

Strategy

Advocacy

Radical stimulus to influence macro system

Create good literature

Articles in popular media

Large advocacy project

BuildEco-system

Build Civil Society eco- System

Support new entrants strengthen network

Build capabilities in network

Experiment& learn

Deep Engagementwith schools

Support diverseexperimentsCreate shareablelearning


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Not REEL, But REAL

ACTION

The Indian film Industry has seen unprecedented growth in terms of volume of films being made and the revenueassociated with it. In the past decade the film industry has reached new heights from ranking first globally in terms ofannual film output to reaching overall revenue of Rs.93 billion in 2011. Yes, all of this is not shared by the producers andpromoters but gives employment to thousands of people directly or indirectly associated with the film production orpromotion or final screening. It is a joy to watch actors becoming heroes and fighting the evils pertaining in the society.There is another potential side to the success of the Indian Film Industry as many social issues can be resolved by justputting a small percentage of its revenue in the social sector. Social Action requires collective action from all sectorscovering horizontal and vertical spectrum bringing the required change.

There are many ways production houses are helping the underprivileged sections of the society through their socialinitiatives, though there is no collective action taken up by the film industry. A small percentage of the billions of revenuethat is generated annually can change many lives. It needs proactive action from the Film Fraternity. The solution can be topromote a Social Impact Fund where different production houses can have a stake depending upon their revenuegenerated in the past year and this fund can then be distributed to various NGOs, Social Incubators, Prime Minister ReliefFund, or directly through impact initiatives carried out by the Trust itself. For this a collective action is required by everyonein the film industry, who can contribute to their share of social responsibility.

This could be under the purview of CSR as many production houses and media partners come under the CSR ambit, andtheir share of contribution should not be clubbed with the social responsibility associated with all those who have thecapacity to bring about a positive change in the lives of underprivileged sections of the society. Innovative FinancialAdvisors Pvt. Ltd. continues to work to improve the livelihood, education, health and environment aspects of the societywhich can be used as a medium to create a sustainable India in association with a Socially Responsible Indian Film Industry.

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Manish Narula

India Sanitation Summit 6th Feb, 2015, New Delhi

CII CSR Workshop: Implementation, Impact and reporting 10th Feb, 2015, New Delhi

Conference on Health, Safety, Security and Environment (HSSE)- 12th Feb, 2015, Vadodara

3rd National Conference on Waste to Wealth: The Action Agenda 3rd Feb, 2015, New Delhi

India Corporate Governance and Sustainability Vision Summit - 3rd March 2015, New Delhi

Forthcoming Events

CSR of the Indian Film Industry


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National Youth Day is observed every year across India on12th January. The day is celebrated with great enthusiasm andjoy to commemorate the bir th anniversary of SwamiVivekananda. His ideals, philosophies, writings and lectureshave been a great source of inspiration for the youth of thecountry. This day motivates the youth by encouraging themto work towards making India better. Across the country theNational Youth Day is commemorated in schools, collegesand other institutions through activities that aim to enlightenthe youth about the ideals of Swami Vivekananda.

Indian youth today need to have an ability and vision to thinkglobally and act locally. India has the world's largest youthpopulation with 356 million people between the age of 10-24.Fiinovation believes that Indians should learn and adaptglobal best practices if they aim for development. This dayinspires us to work together to unite and motivate the youthwho are future torch bearers.

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Fiinobservation of National DaysNational Youth Day

12 January

Tweets of The MonthCANONIndia@Canon_IndiaCanontakesprideinbeing

sociallyinclinedwithefforts

acrossthreecoreareas-EyeCare,Education&Environment

NewsAssamNews@

NewsAssam

JohnAbrahamtostartCSR

activitiestosaverhinosin

Assam-ZeeNews

NanhiKali@

NanhiKali

@CSF_India&@

ficci_India

recogniseNanhi

Kaliasa

thrivingCSRmod

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educationofmar

ginalized

groups.

TechMahindra@

tech_mahindra

MahindraGroupis

honored

tobeamongstth

eTop3

companiesfor#C

SRinIndia

#RiseForGood

FICCI@ficci_indiaCentralSquareFoundation

andFICCIlaunchreporton

theroleofCSRinpromoting

qualityschooleducationinIndia

Fiinovation, a research based organization, is an integrated solution enabler in the CSR and sustainability domain. It is focused towards enhancing quality across organizational value chain

through meaningful innovation thereby ensuring sustainability. It is Asia's first proposal research laboratory wherein research is focused primarily on four sectors, which include health,education, livelihood and environment. The practices: CSR-CSO Partnership, CSR Policy Design & Development, Programme Management, Impact Assessment and Sustainability

Reporting help provide simple solutions to their partners.

Fiinovation

24/30, Ground Floor, Okhla Industrial Estate, Phase III

New Delhi - 110020

Phone: 011-42332200 | Fax : 011-42332205

website: www.fiinovation.co.in | Email: [email protected]

Who We Are

Republic Day

26 January

India celebrates 26th January as Gantantra Divas (RepublicDay). It is on this day that the Indian constitution was adoptedand the foundation for the largest democracy was laid. Weowe it to the makers of independent India who strived to giveits citizens the right to justice, liberty, equality and fraternity,keeping the spirit of India intact.

On this day, the political fraternity, from the Indian Presidentto the Prime Minister, descend on Rajpath to witness thehighlight of the day-Republic Day Parade. India's culturallandscape includes hues of all religions, castes, and creedwhich gets translated in the form of a tableaux for the parade.Besides this, India showcases its military might to the world.

The three-day festivities come to an end on 29th January withthe Beating Retreat, which is performed by the bands of thethree wings of the military - Indian Army, Indian Navy andIndian Air Force.

Documents

Dnote Xpress, Issue #10, Jan 2015