CSR Dashboard

Author: csr-admin

  • Expand CSR reach to poor, North East states: FM exhorts India Inc

    Expand CSR reach to poor, North East states: FM exhorts India Inc

    Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has exhorted India Inc to expand CSR reach to poor states like Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Bihar and North East region. Appreciating that companies have spent about Rs 13,000 crore in 2018 under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), she said, this is very

    Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has exhorted India Inc to expand CSR reach to poor states like Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, Bihar and North East region.

    Appreciating that companies have spent about Rs 13,000 crore in 2018 under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), she said, this is very relevant for the development of the hinterland.

    “We find a significant presence of CSR in states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Delhi… states like Chattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Bihar also require such support from CSR. Not to forget all the eight states of North East region,” the finance minister said on the occasion of First National CSR Awards here.

    The recognition has been given to wealth creators not just for wealth creation but to give back to the community in the name of CSR, she said, adding that giving back to community from the justified profit is the spirit of the CSR, which has gained a lot of traction.

  • President Kovind lobbies for orphans and disabled

    President Kovind lobbies for orphans and disabled

    Emphasising that social welfare activities will generate enough goodwill for wealth creators among ordinary people, President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday suggested companies to look at ways to contribute more towards CSR spending for orphans and disabled people

    New Delhi, October 29: Emphasising that social welfare activities will generate enough goodwill for wealth creators among ordinary people, President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday suggested companies to look at ways to contribute more towards CSR spending for orphans and disabled people.

    “I sincerely hope that innovative solutions to persisting development challenges will emerge from the CSR activities,” he said at the first National Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) awards function here.

    The CSR provisions under the Companies Act, 2013 came into force from April 1, 2014.

    Under the Act, a certain class of profitable companies are required to shell out at least two per cent of their three-year average annual net profit towards CSR activities in a particular financial year.

    Noting that the response of companies to the CSR framework has been highly commendable, the president said every fiscal since 2014-15, the corporate sector has set aside a total of more than Rs 10,000 crore for social welfare.

    Sharing his vision, Kovind said when it comes to helping those in need in the society, there are resources, the will and a framework too.

    “Whom shall we help most? I have in mind orphan children and Divyang (disabled people). While the government has done what it can to give them a helping hand, society and especially the corporate sector can still do more for them.

    “Can we plan in such a way that within a foreseeable future, every orphan child can get personal care? We can set 2030 as a deadline to ensure providing care to every child and reap the benefits of demographic advantage that we have,” he said.

    Suggesting “food for thought and action”, Kovind said that respect is received by donating wealth and not by storing wealth.

    According to him, it is equally important to internalise social welfare in the corporate culture.

    He asked the companies to motivate their employees and sensitise them to this higher calling in service of the marginalised sections of society.

    This single step would generate enough goodwill for wealth creators among ordinary people, he added.

    “The Companies Act was amended in 2013-14, making it mandatory for companies with a specified level of profit to spend two per cent of it on social welfare. I am told it is one of the world’s largest experiments in promoting CSR,” Kovind said.

    While noting that what is now called CSR is “very much in our DNA”, the president said the legacy was carried forward by entrepreneurs of early industrialism.

    “Illustrious business families like Tata, Birla and Bajaj and many others associated with our freedom struggle were sensitive to their social responsibilities. Mahatma Gandhi developed the principle of trusteeship, not only from his deep understanding of our various religious traditions but also based on the generosity of industrialists associated with him,” he added.

    From now onwards, the National CSR awards — instituted by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs — would be conferred every year on October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

  • CSR campaign by Philips to promote awareness on pneumonia

    CSR campaign by Philips to promote awareness on pneumonia

    Philips India a leader in health technology has launched an awareness camoaign under its CSR inititive to boost focus on childhood pneumonia. The aim of this campaign is to reach parents, family and caregivers and bring them up to date with it’s harmful effects.

    Philips India a leader in health technology has launched an awareness camoaign under its CSR inititive to boost focus on childhood pneumonia.

    The aim of this campaign is to reach parents, family and caregivers and bring them up to date with it’s harmful effects.

    India has the highest number of childhood pneumonia cases in the world, both in terms of morbidity and mortality. Around 1.5 lakh children lose their life due to pneumonia each year with 30 million new cases reported annually. In children under five years, pneumonia contributes to nearly a sixth (15%) of all deaths in India, with one child dying from pneumonia every four minutes.

    Through this campaign, we aim to focus on both urban and rural areas and reach out to the people through multiple mediums including TV, radio, print, digital, social media channels and on-ground initiatives.

    Daniel Mazon, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Philips Indian Subcontinent, said, “The key to preventing pneumonia in children below the age of 5 years is identifying those at risk and educating parents and caregivers on its diagnosis and treatment. Philips is committed to contribute towards the reduction of cases of childhood pneumonia in India through this nationwide awareness campaign.”

  • LG to sponsor 800 cornea transplants in India

    LG to sponsor 800 cornea transplants in India

    Korean tech giant LG has decided to sponsor 800 cornea eye transplant surgeries across India under its initiative ‘Karein Roshni’ in association with two eye hospitals. The initiative assumes significance as India is home to a third of the world’s blind population. The country has about 12 million

    Korean tech giant LG has decided to sponsor 800 cornea eye transplant surgeries across India under its initiative ‘Karein Roshni’ in association with two eye hospitals.

    The initiative assumes significance as India is home to a third of the world’s blind population. The country has about 12 million individuals with visual impairment as against the global total of 39 million.

    Under the Karein Roshni, the company will invite people to come forward and pledge to donate their eyes for the noble cause, the company said in a statement.

    The awareness about the initiative will be created through radio and digital media. The company also plans to have on-ground activations at LG stores inviting Indian citizens to pledge for donating their eyes for this cause.

    The programme will be implemented along with Sankara Eye Hospital, a not-for-profit charitable eye hospital and Dr Shroff charity eye hospital.

    According to Dr Shroff Charity Eye Hospital CEO Arun Arora, India has approximately 120,000 needlessly blind people due to corneal disease with 20,000 annually adding to the list.

    Corneal transplantation surgery is the best available therapeutic option that can rehabilitate these patients suffering from corneal blindness, he said.

    “With our patient numbers and corneal transplant surgeries growing by the day, any kind of support from brands like LG Electronics always help. We are thankful to LG Electronics for its generous support and sponsorship. The corneal transplant surgeries coupled with Eye Donation Awareness Drive will set the momentum for a larger change for this cause in our country,” Arora added.

    Sankara Eye Foundation Founder and Managing Trustee Dr R V Ramani said, “Non-availability, non-affordability and inaccessibility to quality eye care, especially in rural India, has been the challenging scenario for the economically weaker sections. We are thankful to multinationals like LG Electronics for their continuous support in making it possible for such people to follow their dreams.”

    LG Electronics India Managing Director Ki Wan Kim said: “We received an overwhelming response for Karein Roshni campaign last time, and hope to receive the same this year.”

    He said that the company uses both its innovation and a widespread network to create positive change in society.

    “We are happy to announce Karein Roshni campaign that will help improve quality of life of people with no vision, allowing them to become more aware of the world around them and empower them with more choice, freedom and greater possibilities,” he added.

    The current year is a milestone for LG Electronics as the company celebrates its 22nd anniversary in India.

  • SBI introduces ‘Green Reward Points’ to promote sustainability

    SBI introduces ‘Green Reward Points’ to promote sustainability

    State Bank of India (SBI) has launched a unique ‘Green Reward Points’ programme to onboard its YONO customers in the sustainability journey. Under this programme, SBI inspires customers to pledge earned ‘Green Reward Points’ to a pool created as ‘YONO SBI Green Fund’ which is managed by SBI Foundation

    State Bank of India (SBI) has launched a unique ‘Green Reward Points’ programme to onboard its YONO customers in the sustainability journey.

    Under this programme, SBI inspires customers to pledge earned ‘Green Reward Points’ to a pool created as ‘YONO SBI Green Fund’ which is managed by SBI Foundation, the bank said in a statement.

    The bank through ‘YONO SBI Green Fund’ will initiate environment conservation activities through various programs.

    The Fund will be used for planting of trees, constructing of bio-toilets, initiating “Conserve Water Campaign” along with setting up RO Plants in cities facing drinking water crisis, creating awareness about avoidance of single-use plastic among customers and encourage usage of solar energy across the country, it added.

    SBI customer will now earn ‘Green Reward points’ through transactions on YONO and they would be given an option to pledge these points to ‘YONO SBI Green Fund’.

    Customers earning Rewardz points through non-YONO transaction channels like mobile NS internet banking will be given an option to convert it into ‘Green Reward points’ which on conversion can be pledged to the fund.

    All the customers pledging their points to the fund will be awarded a ‘Green e-Certificate’ as a token of appreciation towards their support for this initiative.

    SBI, on the other hand, has also committed to converting lapsed ‘Green Reward Points’ of customers by informing them for environment conservation through YONO SBI Green Fund. SBI customers can earn up to 200 Green Reward points on each eligible service provided by the bank.

    Speaking about the initiative, SBI Chairman Rajnish Kumar said: “With a pledge to conserve the environment, we invite all our customers to partner with us in promoting sustainability.”

    To make this a wide-scale programme, SBI will proactively communicate with its customers through various channels of communication to come forward and pledge Green Reward points for the initiative, the bank added.

  • Droom goes on a go green drive in Gurugram

    Droom goes on a go green drive in Gurugram

    Organised used car platform Droom has decided to plant over 1,000 samplings of ‘hypoestes’ variety around its campus in Gurugram, Haryana. Hypoestes is a polka-dotted plant species that is well known for its oxygen-enriching ability and was therefore selected for this intensive green plantation

    Organised used car platform Droom has decided to plant over 1,000 samplings of ‘hypoestes’ variety around its campus in Gurugram, Haryana.

    Hypoestes is a polka-dotted plant species that is well known for its oxygen-enriching ability and was therefore selected for this intensive green plantation exercise by Droom.

    Under the ‘Droom Bindaas Ghoom Let’s Go Green’ campaign, every employee of Droom have pledged to curb pollution by planting over 1,000 samplings, the company said in a statement.

    Through this campaign, the company seeks to strengthen the global-scale ‘Go Green’ initiative by lending its wholehearted support to the same.

    Considering how the pollution levels are alarmingly high in Delhi-NCR, initiatives like these can help bring about a significant difference and serve as an ideal example for others to follow.

    Commenting on this campaign, Droom CEO and founder Sandeep Aggarwal said: “We are deeply passionate about and proactive towards contributing to those causes that bring about a positive impact on the community and the environment.”

    In the past, the company had taken several such initiatives like ‘‘Talking God’ campaign which dealt with road rage and the ‘Ambulance First’ campaign to encourage responsible driving.

    Karnataka tops the Innovation Index followed by TN, Maha and Delhi
  • Karnataka tops the Innovation Index followed by TN, Maha and Delhi

    Karnataka tops the Innovation Index followed by TN, Maha and Delhi

    NITI Aayog with Institute for Competitiveness as the knowledge partner released the India Innovation Index (III) 2019. Karnataka is the most innovative major state in India. Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Telangana, Haryana, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh form the remaining

    NITI Aayog with Institute for Competitiveness as the knowledge partner released the India Innovation Index (III) 2019. Karnataka is the most innovative major state in India. Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Telangana, Haryana, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, and Andhra Pradesh form the remaining top ten major states respectively. The top ten major states are majorly concentrated in southern and western India. Sikkim and Delhi take the top spots among the northeastern & hill states, and union territories/city-states/small states respectively. Delhi, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and Uttar Pradesh are the most efficient states in translating inputs into output.

    The index was released in the presence of Dr Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog; Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog; Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science; Renu Swarup, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology and Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, AYUSH.

    Dr Rajiv Kumar expressed hope that “the India Innovation Index would create synergies between different stakeholders in the innovation ecosystem and India would shift to competitive good governance.” Shri Amitabh Kant added that “India has a unique opportunity among its myriad challenges to become the innovation leader in the world.” Renu Swarup said, “cluster-based innovation should be leveraged upon as the focal point of competitiveness.” Shri Ashutosh Sharma said, “The index is a great beginning to improve the environment of innovation in the country as it focuses on both the input and output components of the idea.” Shri Vaidya Kotecha said, “The index is a good effort to benchmark the performance of the state with each other and promote competitive federalism.”

    The study examines the innovation ecosystem of Indian states and union territories. The aim is to create a holistic tool which can be used by policymakers across the country to identify the challenges to be addressed and strengths to build on when designing the economic growth policies for their regions. The states have been bifurcated into three categories: major states, north-east, and hill states, and union territories/city-states/small states.

  • Tata Trusts challenges reopening of it’s IT assessment

    Tata Trusts challenges reopening of it’s IT assessment

    Tata Trusts has challenged the move of the income tax department of reopening of its assessment on the ground that it has already surrendered registration provisions under the I-T Act. It has pleaded that levy of additional income tax when a charitable trust converts into or merges with a non-charitable

    Tata Trusts has challenged the move of the income tax department of reopening of its assessment on the ground that it has already surrendered registration provisions under the I-T Act. It has pleaded that levy of additional income tax when a charitable trust converts into or merges with a non-charitable trust or transfers its assets on dissolution to a non-charitable institution cannot be applied to them.

    Earlier in July, the I-T department had served notices on a set of Tata Trusts seeking to reopen assessment and questioning their decision to ‘surrender’ registrations in 2015.

    According to Section 115 (TD) of the Income Tax Act, a trust whose registration is cancelled is required to pay tax on its accumulated or ‘accreted’ income. The dispute dates back to 2013 when the Comptroller & Auditor General pointed out that Jamsetji Tata Trust and Navajbai Ratan Tata Trust had invested Rs 3,139 crore in “prohibited modes of investment.”

    The CAG noted that the I-T department had given “irregular tax exemptions” to these trusts, resulting in Rs 1,066 crore escaping the tax net. In March 2015, the Tata Trusts surrendered their registrations (under 12AA of the I-T Act) while admitting that some of their assets were not in compliance with the provisions of Section 13(1)(d) of the Act.

    However, following the CAG’s observations and subsequent remarks by a sub-panel of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in 2018, the matter was transferred to the I-T department’s assessment wing that has now sought an explanation from the trusts.

    The trusts, according to the PAC report, were investing in prohibited modes of investment despite the law strictly forbidding public charitable trusts from holding such assets after 1973. Tata Trusts currently seem to be in a state of flux with the exit of CEO R Venkatraman, who signed letters seeking cancellation of tax benefits on behalf of the trustees. His successor is yet to be appointed after his exit in February 2019.

    “However there are certain queries for which the department will reach out to the assessee before passing the final order which is expected to be by December,” an IT official has said, referring to the deadline for the decision regarding the case. The income tax department is of the view that after invoking the provisions of 115 (TD) after considering the fair market value of the trusts’ total assets and net liabilities, the tax will amount to at least Rs 1,800 crore, going by conservative estimates.
    Source: ET

  • Integrate CSR in business: CJI Gogoi

    Integrate CSR in business: CJI Gogoi

    Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi wants Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) integrated into a modern business strategy to achieve the goal of social justice. This practice will ensure that financial drivers and sustainable development metrics are embedded in mainstream businesses

    Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi wants Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) integrated into a modern business strategy to achieve the goal of social justice. This practice will ensure that financial drivers and sustainable development metrics are embedded in mainstream businesses.

    “To achieve the goal of social justice in the best possible manner, CSR must be integrated into our modern business strategy,” Gogoi said while speaking at an Associated Chambers of Commerce of India (ASSOCHAM) event. He said India is a developing country and although the country’s economy began to thrive post-privatization and globalization, the situation is different from that of the developed west. “Having entered the global marketplace without a particularly robust regulatory infrastructure and fully functional state services like schools, highways, or hospitals, we have experienced and continue to experience great inequities,” Gogoi feels.

    Therefore, it requires the companies and businesses to act beyond their legal obligations to integrate social, environmental and ethical concerns into a company’s business process, he added. Gogoi also observed that one of the areas of greatest weakness concerning social protection relates to the extremely limited attention within the CSR agenda to the vast majority of workers, producers and enterprises in the country that are associated with micro and small enterprises, small-scale agriculture and the so-called informal sector’.

    In India, corporates have been engaging themselves in philanthropy and charitable activities while embedding the same in law has given a new dimension to the CSR. Sharing CJI’s views, ASSOCHAM Senior Vice President Niranjan Hiranandani said the CSR should go well beyond the legal obligation and it should become part of an enterprise, starting from the top management.

  • Reskilling can help navigate the slowdown

    Reskilling can help navigate the slowdown

    India is expected to grow at 7.7 per cent by 2019-20, rising from 7.2 percent in 2017-18, according to recent studies. With the ever-evolving technological landscape, businesses around the world have experienced a rapid change of skill needs and requirements. This has given rise to another issue in

    India is expected to grow at 7.7 per cent by 2019-20, rising from 7.2 percent in 2017-18, according to recent studies. With the ever-evolving technological landscape, businesses around the world have experienced a rapid change of skill needs and requirements. This has given rise to another issue in the country: a broadening skills gap.

    According to recent studies, the Asia-Pacific region is likely to face a shortage of 12.3 million workers by 2020, with the opportunity cost amounting to USD 4.2 trillion. Technological development, including blockchain, artificial intelligence, data science, and machine learning, are bringing major changes across industries. Skilling and reskilling will help employees navigate through the technological changes taking place across industries and workplaces, according to HR experts. Graduates need to be trained in new skills and technologies that organizations presently seek.

    As per HR expert Zairus Master, CEO,Shine.com. Today, jobs demand familiarity and expertise in disruptive technologies like Augmented/Virtual Reality, blockchain, cybersecurity, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, 5G, and the Internet of Things (IoT). Institutes and colleges are still producing engineers with the same skills that their predecessors had more than a decade ago. As a result, there is a huge mismatch between demand and supply in terms of a skilled workforce. There is a critical need for more dedicated reskilling and upskilling initiatives aimed at getting the Indian workforce ready for the jobs of tomorrow.