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  • NSE gets in-principal SEBI nod to set up social stock exchange

    NSE gets in-principal SEBI nod to set up social stock exchange

    The government thas already notified new security Zero Coupon Zero Principal (ZCZP) under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956.

    The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) received in-principle approval from the Securities Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to set up a Social Stock Exchange (SSE) as a separate segment of the NSE.

      “NSE has always played a pivotal role in capital formation for the country. We are working towards the launch of the Social Stock Exchange as a segment on NSE,” NSE Managing Director and CEO Ashish Kumar Chauhan said in a statement.

      “We believe this platform will immensely benefit the social enterprises contributing to the Sustainable Development Goals,” he added.

      The government has already notified new security, “Zero Coupon Zero Principal (ZCZP)”, under the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956.

      The new instrument ZCZP can be publicly or privately issued by Not for Profit (NPO) upon registering with the Social Stock Exchange segment of NSE to raise funds subject to fulfilment of eligibility criteria.

      The regulations have currently prescribed the minimum issue size of Rs 1 crore and minimum application size for subscriptions at Rs 2 lakhs. Subscription to the ZCZP would be like a philanthropic donation.

      In her 2019-20 Budget speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had proposed the creation of a Social Stock Exchange, under the regulatory ambit of the SEBI for listing social enterprises and voluntary organisations working for the realisation of a social welfare objective, so that they can raise capital as equity, debt or as units like a mutual fund.

  • SBI donates 10 EVs under the “Go Green” initiative to AIIMS Delhi

    SBI donates 10 EVs under the “Go Green” initiative to AIIMS Delhi

    These EVs will help in reduction in carbon emission and traffic congestion within the AIIMS campus.

    State Bank of India (SBI) has donated 10 electric vehicles to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi as part of its CSR “Go Green” initiative.

      SBI’s Chairman Dinesh Khara handed over the e-vehicles to AIIMS Director Dr M Srinivas here, the bank said in a statement.

      Speaking on the occasion, Khara reiterated the Bank’s commitment towards sustainable environment and also emphasized the country’s commitment towards achieving a carbon neutral status by 2070.

      Khara complimented AIIMS Director for taking up an environment friendly initiative. He wished a great success to this endeavor and thanked AIIMS for inviting SBI to be a partner in this green initiative.

      The AIIMS Director said these EVs will help in reduction in carbon emission and traffic congestion within the AIIMS campus.

      He also said that this was a part of a number of initiatives planned by AIIMS for making AIIMS a green campus, which would benefit the patients, doctors, all other employees as well as visitors to the facility.

  • Infosys Foundation & Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan to promote Indian visual and performing arts

    Infosys Foundation & Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan to promote Indian visual and performing arts

    The two institutions will sponsor mega cultural festivals for three years across seven cities in India, starting with a weeklong festival in Mysuru from November 4.

    Infosys Foundation, the philanthropic and CSR arm of Infosys, on Friday announced that it has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (BVB) for the promotion of Indian visual and performing arts across India.

      Through this engagement, Infosys Foundation and BVB will provide a platform to over 4,500 beneficiaries, including 3,000 artists from underprivileged communities towards preservation of traditional folk and classical art forms, the company said in a statement.

      This collaboration focuses on keeping the visual and performing art forms of India alive by means of various activities such as weeklong festivals, camps, exhibitions, and publications, over a period of three years. The collaboration will give artists from across India a platform to portray their talents and take pride in their identities, thereby strengthening and unifying the artist community in the country.

      To begin with, a weeklong cultural festival will commence in Mysuru from November 4 to November 10, 2022, at Kalamandira, Vinoba Road, from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm. The aim of this festival is to present different art forms of India on one stage. More festivals are scheduled to take place in New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Thiruvananthapuram, Indore, and Chandigarh.

      Infosys Foundation Trustee Krish Shankar said, “We are pleased to team up with Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan to encourage artists from various backgrounds to come to the forefront and display their talents, thus safeguarding various art forms from being forgotten over time.”

      Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Bengaluru Kendra Director H N Suresh said, “There are no adequate words to express the gratitude to Infosys Foundation as they have been supporting vanishing arts, young and upcoming artists belonging to economically weaker sections for decades through BVB and its branches across India and abroad. In the years to come, both Infosys Foundation and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan will work hard to ensure Indian art and culture is adequately preserved and promoted.”

  • India among 11 countries to receive grants for regenerative agri projects under PAO fund: PepsiCo

    India among 11 countries to receive grants for regenerative agri projects under PAO fund: PepsiCo

    Launched in August 2021, the PAO Fund offers PepsiCo market teams co-investment to accelerate diverse and innovative Positive Agriculture projects.

    PepsiCo has announced the continuation of its global agriculture accelerator, the Positive Agriculture Outcomes (PAO) Fund, by granting funding to 14 business projects in India and 10 other countries to address some of the most intractable challenges facing agriculture today.

      Projects from the PAO Fund’s inaugural investment are the focus of PepsiCo’s latest, four-part digital video series, “Growing Our Future.”

      The series looks at how PepsiCo is working with farmers in Thailand to help them adapt to climate change, how farmers in Greece are adopting more efficient irrigation systems to adapt to increased drought, and how PepsiCo is supporting research in Brazil to help potato farmers improve soil health.

      For India, the series elaborates on how PepsiCo has partnered with farmers in Punjab to develop kilns that can turn their agricultural waste into fertilizer known as biochar.

      In recent years, PepsiCo India’s Pep+ (Pep Positive) agenda in the supply chain of potatoes have created awareness and impact in Punjab and West Bengal helping farmers manage paddy crop residue by ploughing back into soils and conversion of paddy straw into “biochar ” through the process of pyrolysis. PepsiCo India is also funding the infrastructure (retort kilns) to help growers in these states.

      This includes carbon farming under regenerative agriculture through: Moldboarding of crop residue into the soil and conversion of crop residues through pyrolysis process into biochar with 40 percent carbon.

      These two initiatives have helped improve the soil health and reducing practices such as stubble burning that release carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

      Launched in August 2021, the PAO Fund offers PepsiCo market teams co-investment to accelerate diverse and innovative Positive Agriculture projects. The investments are designed to “de-risk” promising initiatives while accelerating the development of innovative technologies and approaches that can help scale the adoption of regenerative agriculture practices.

      In 2022, the PAO Fund is making investments in projects that span a range of commodities, supply chains, time horizons and PepsiCo business units, but all are focused on either testing a new regenerative technology or approach, helping farmers build climate resilience, or developing new sustainable “landscapes”.

      In total, the PAO Fund is providing ongoing support to over 20 different projects around the world through grants totaling more than USD 7.4 million awarded in 2021 and 2022.

      We’re in a race to reach the world’s 1.5 degree target and, to do our part, PepsiCo has set a range of ambitious PepsiCo Positive goals, including expanding regenerative agriculture practices and building the resilience of those in our agricultural supply chain by preparing them for a changing climate,” said Rob Meyers, Vice President of Global Sustainable Agriculture.

      “Reaching PepsiCo’s – and our planet’s – goals will require fresh thinking and innovation from our agriculture teams and partners all over the world, which is why the PAO Fund was created to make it a bit easier for good ideas to get off the ground,” he added.

  • SJS Enterprises adopts 7 villages in Bengaluru for door-to-door garbage collection

    SJS Enterprises adopts 7 villages in Bengaluru for door-to-door garbage collection

    SJS Enterprises Managing Director K A Joseph said the company took up this step after witnessing the plight of the villagers as they were facing major health problems due to poor waste management.

    Garbage disposal is major concern for most urban and rural areas in India. In many parts of the country, garbage is simply dumped in landfills, which is an unhygienic and unsustainable practice. The inappropriate technique of dumping garbage waste can cause irreversible damage to humans and the environment.

      To address this major concern, SJS Enterprises took up the initiative of helping Agara Panchayat Jurisdiction by providing door-to-door garbage collection across seven villages — BM Kaval Village, Tataguni, Vaderahalli, Agara Village, Dodapalya Village, Lakshmipura and Byresandra village — in Bengaluru.

      A fleet of three vehicles were provided for collecting both wet and dry garbage from October 1. These trucks have a load capacity of 600-650 kg. Each truck can carry 0.50 tonnes of garbage every day and handed it over to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike team, which will further segregate and dispose of the garbage in an eco-friendly manner, Agara Panchayat President Venkatesh said.

      SJS Enterprises Managing Director K A Joseph said, “SJS team took up this step after witnessing the plight of the villagers as they were facing major health problems due to poor waste management. Currently, the villagers are relieved as now they can live a better life with less risk of health problems.”

  • Indian Hotels Company installs 224 EV charging stations at 92 properties

    Indian Hotels Company installs 224 EV charging stations at 92 properties

    These EV charging points are installed at across various Taj, SeleQtions, Vivanta, Ginger and amã Stays and Trails properties across the country.

    Hospitality firm Indian Hotels Company (IHCL), in collaboration with Tata Power, has installed 224 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at 92 of its properties, a move that will give driving vacations in electric vehicles more accessible for guests.

      These EV charging points are installed at across various Taj, SeleQtions, Vivanta, Ginger and amã Stays and Trails properties across the country, an official statement said.

      These chargers can be accessed by the guests staying at various IHCL properties, allowing them to experience the reliability and worry-free facility, while discovering breath-taking destinations across the country.

      Speaking about the initiative, IHCL Executive Vice President (Human Resource) Gaurav Pokhariyal said, “Today, we are seeing a major paradigm shift across the globe as an increasing number of people are gravitating towards alternative or less energy-intensive options of transport. At IHCL, we will continue our endeavour to embrace green sources of energy while making sustainability measures easily accessible for our customers.”

      The move is aligned with IHCL’s commitment to cater to the evolving needs of its environmentally conscious customers by reducing their carbon footprint in travel and assisting in the further adaptation of sustainable means of living.

      With a long term vision of driving responsible tourism, IHCL has announced its sustainability commitments for the year 2030 under Paathya. IHCL will continue to pioneer sustainable practices in its pursuit towards excellence and creating benchmark in the tourism industry.

  • Tata Chemicals’ initiative saves over 850 whale shark in Gujarat

    Tata Chemicals’ initiative saves over 850 whale shark in Gujarat

    The initiative has garnered extensive support from the fishing communities of Gujarat resulting in a decline in cases of poaching from around 600 in 1999-2000 to zero in 2021.

    Tata Chemicals through its ‘Save Whale Shark Campaign’ has saved over 850 of these endangered species till date in the Saurashtra region along the coastline of Gujarat.

      This initiative of Tata Chemicals, Wildlife Trust of India (WTI) and the Gujarat Forest Department has garnered extensive support from the fishing communities of Gujarat resulting in a decline in cases of poaching from around 600 in 1999-2000 to zero in 2021.

      For effective implementation of this project, migration research studies of Whale Sharks from Gujarat Waters have been conducted. So far eight satellite transmitters on rescued Whale Sharks have been deployed. The results were analysed in collaboration with the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and published in the International Journal of Frontiers in Marine Science.

      About 18 Genetic study samples have been collected and analysed from rescued Whale Sharks in Gujarat waters.

      Talking about this initiative, Tata Chemicals Head HR and CSR R Nanda said, “Corporates through CSR can do a lot for our environment. This campaign is a reflection of Tata Chemicals’ commitment to environmental conservation. Designed to make the community a stakeholder in our endeavor to save this Whale Shark, this initiative has ushered a significant behavioral change.”

      The concerted efforts of the company and the partners have resulted in the whale shark becoming the second wildlife pride in Gujarat, after the Asiatic lions and seven coastal cities in Gujarat, including a non-coastal city, Ahmedabad, have adopted the whale shark as their city mascot.

      The Whale Shark conservation project has sensitized over 50,000 fishers and 100,000 coastal students through campaign awareness drive to inculcate the message of conservation.

      The project has been represented in the International Whale Shark conferences held globally, including the ones in Doha in 2016 and Australia in 2019. It has won the India Biodiversity Award by UNDP for the conservation of the whale shark, under the co-management category in 2014; the Green Governance Award by BNHS in 2005.

  • Happiest Minds deploys solar plant at its Bengaluru campus

    Happiest Minds deploys solar plant at its Bengaluru campus

    The new solar power plant will generate 256 MWh of electricity per year and is estimated to reduce 210 tonne of carbon emissions annually.

    Happiest Minds Technologies today announced commissioning of a 183kWp solar power plant at its ‘Smiles 2’ campus at Madivala, Bengaluru.

      The new solar power plant will generate 256 MWh of electricity per year and is estimated to reduce 210 tonne of carbon emissions annually and 5200 tonne over its lifecycle, the company said in a statement.

      Happiest Minds aims to achieve carbon neutrality in its operations by 2030 and aspires to be known for its high levels of ESG standards.

      Commenting on the development, the company’s Managing Director and CFO Venkatraman Narayanan said the company is consciously embedding sustainability in every aspect of its business by striving for more mindful ways to reduce the impact on the planet, whilst providing digital, agile, and sustainable solutions to the customers.

      India’s Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) target is to achieve about 40 per cent cumulative electric power installed capacity from non-fossil fuel-based energy resources and to reduce the emission intensity of its GDP by 33 per cent to 35 per cent from 2005 level by 2030.

  • Reliance Industries spends Rs 813 crore on CSR activities in 2021-22 fiscal

    Reliance Industries spends Rs 813 crore on CSR activities in 2021-22 fiscal

    Of which, about Rs 222 crore was spent on the Mission Covid Suraksha.

    Reliance Industries spent Rs 813 crore on corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities during the 2021-22 financial year, with maximum funds for promoting health and medical relief initiatives.

    Of which, about Rs 222 crore was spent on the Mission Covid Suraksha. About Rs 114 crore was spent on preventive and public healthcare initiatives in Maharasthra, and Rs 109 crore on medical relief in Gujarat and Maharasthra. It also spent Rs 142 crore on promotion of education in Maharasthra.

    “During the year under review, the company spent Rs 813 crore (around 2.21 percent of the average net profits of last three financial years) on CSR activities,” the company said in its annual report.

    Reliance Industries said the three core commitments of ‘Scale, Impact and Sustainability’ formed the bed-rock of the company’s philosophy on CSR initiatives.

    CSR initiatives are being focused in the areas of Rural Transformation, Health, Education, Environment, Arts, Heritage & Culture and Disaster Response.

    The company supported national initiatives like Gram Uday Se Bharat Uday Abhiyan, Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Poshan Abhiyan, Jal Shakti Abhiyan, Sabki Yojana Sabka Vikas, Skill India Mission, Digital India and Doubling Farmers’ Income.

    The company further said it adopted a multi-pronged approach to address the COVID-19 pandemic. The company supported initiatives on healthcare, medical oxygen supply, emergency meal distribution, supply of free fuel, masks and awareness creation.

    Over 8.5 crore meals provided under Mission Anna Sewa; over 1.4 crore masks were distributed under Mission COVID-19 Suraksha and free fuel support was provided to over 70,000 emergency vehicles.

    Medical oxygen production was ramped up from zero to 11 percent of India’s treatment needs for meeting the requirement of over one lakh patients every day. This was supplied free to several state governments.

    Over the past decade, the company has focused on several CSR programs. The CSR initiatives under the leadership of Nita M. Ambani, Founder and Chairperson, Reliance Foundation, have touched the lives of more than 5.75 crore people covering more than 50,600 villages and several urban locations across India.

    The CSR initiatives of the company have won several awards including Golden Peacock Award for Corporate Social Responsibility 2021, CII DX Award 2021 under ‘Innovation in CSR through Digital Transformation,’ Award for Corporate Leadership in ESG (Environmental, Social & Governance) from The CSR Journal- Excellence Awards 2021, World Summit Awards 2021 for providing digital solutions through its Machli App and the Best Vaccine Programme by a Private Hospital at the India Today Healthgiri awards among others.

  • Piramal Foundation to bet on six areas to accelerate change in India

    Piramal Foundation to bet on six areas to accelerate change in India

    Piramal Group Chairman Ajay Piramal said, “We remain committed to our goal of ‘leaving no one behind”.

    On completion of 15 years of its establishment, Piramala Foundation today announced that its CSR activities will focus on six areas through partnership approach to accelerate change in India.

    These six areas are:

    1. Anamaya, The Tribal Health Collaborative aims to end preventable deaths in tribal communities by enabling over 100 mn tribal people with the lowest Human Development Index bridge access to health by strengthening communities and public delivery systems alike. Partnerships include Ministry of Tribal Affairs, National TB Elimination Program, USAID, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Centre for Policy Research and Ekjut Foundation.

    2. Aspirational Districts Collaborative aims to uplift the lives of 100 million people living in abject poverty in 112 Aspirational Districts by 2030 through hyperlocal collaboration and last mile convergence.

    Key Partners are NITI Aayog, District Governments of 112 Aspirational Districts, Edelgive Foundation, Tata Communications Limited and Deloitte.

    3. Digital Bharat Collaborative aims to transform the healthcare system by building a Robust Digital Public Health Delivery Platform. National Aids Control Organisation, 5 State Governments, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Rockefeller Foundation, CISCO, Genpact, Wipro are key partners.

    4. Piramal University builds future-ready and ‘Sewa-Bhaav’ oriented public system leaders who drive innovation and learning. It also strengthens institutional processes, practices & governance averting delays, inaccuracies and wasteful expenditure of government time. Strategic partnerships are with 7 State governments, Harvard University, Emory University, Boston Consulting Group, UNICEF, Google, Genpact, Porticus, Sofina and Children’s Investment Fund Foundation.

      5. The Piramal Academy of Sewa leverages the power of youth and builds future leaders engaged in nation building through a full time immersive, experiential fellowship with self-transformation at the core. Partnerships have been forged with leading academic institutions across the country, Edelgive Foundation, Children’s Investment Fund Foundation and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

      6. Piramal Centre for Children with Special Needs addresses wide structural gaps and absence of adequate, quality care for children with special needs by building a lighthouse of excellence with state-of-the-art design and amenities, world class curriculum, specialised applications and tools to accelerate learning, skill building for employability for persons with disabilities. Collaborations have been forged with experts on PwDs (persons with disabilities) Curriculum development, and government.

      Piramal Group Chairman Ajay Piramal said, “The journey thus far has been enriching as well as inspiring. Our efforts to touch the lives of the most underserved Indian citizens is guided by our spirit of Sewa Bhaav. We believe in doing well and doing good, which essentially means that our success is intrinsically connected to society also doing well.”

    The real transformation of Bharat will happen when we are able to reach millions of Indians and include them as a part of India’s growth journey, he said, and added, “We remain committed to our goal of ‘leaving no one behind’ and are confident that this will be achieved through greater collaboration between Government, civil society and NGO partners.”

      The Foundation said its initiatives have reached the most underserved people across India and has impacted 113 million lives in last 15 years. The CSR initiatives were taken in the field of education, health, water and the social sector ecosystem.