| Corporate Trends In good company Tata Tea's corporate responsibility initiative is a pointer to the new trend sweeping India Inc. By P. SREEVALSAN MENON |
Bhanumathy, from Kanniamallay near Munnar, is thoroughly professional as she leads her team in a factory which makes natural dyes from leaves and petals. The 26-year-old calls everyone by name and keeps tabs on each one's schedule and targets. A typical factory scenario? Not quite. Bhanumathy and the others in her team are physically challenged people who work in a large shed in the middle of the vast tea estates of Munnar, Kerala. The factory, called Aranya, is part of Tata Tea's community welfare project, Shrishti, and is a classic example of the corporate social responsibility (CSR) bug that has bitten India Inc.
While a study done two years ago by London's The Energy and Resources Institute-Europe found that Indian companies were yet to embrace CSR as a core business strategy, another study late last year reflected a
paradigm shift (see box). It found that a majority of the companies surveyed took up CSR programmes in their desire to be good corporate citizens and to improve the brand image.COLOURS OF A NEW LIFE: (Clockwise from above)
Aranya plant in Munnar; making the dye in Aranya;
DSP Merril Lynch's chief Hemendra Kothari at the
Akanksha centre in Mumbai
It is becoming increasingly visible. The KC Mahindra Trust runs Nanhi Kali, which provides primary education for 1,700 underprivileged girls through 18 NGOs. The Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development does social work in 1,500 villages near Aditya Birla plants at Nagda, Jawad, Gwalior, Raipur and Bhiwani. Similar welfare programmes by Reliance cover many villages around its Jamnagar complex. Rabobank has conducted art auctions in Mu!
mbai to
help artisans.There is more. Hope Foundation, established by the Chhabrias, has an outlay of Rs 50 crore and works for health care and education. Financial services major DSP Merril Lynch sponsors the Akanksha educational centre at Mumbai's St Xavier's High School and is involved in projects ranging from Lifeline Express to disability reduction project.
It is not plain charity, but catering to the needs of the community. As Charles Raymond, president of the Citigroup Foundation, said on a recent trip to India: "People don't want just a handout but a hand up."
Tata Tea came up with the Aranya project in 1994 to find a livelihood for the physically challenged youth in Munnar, where inbreeding among tea workers has led to birth defects. The project aimed at creating an eco-friendly option for them. After identifying paper recycling and vegetable dyes as a major!
option,
Tata Tea officers' wives led by Ratna Krishnakumar, wife of managing director R.K. Krishnakumar, began experimenting in a few small sheds in the tea estates. Though initial experiments failed, Ratna and her team soon came up with results.
Youngsters with aptitude were identified and sent for training at Weavers Studio, Kolkata, for natural dyeing, printing and batik work and at Auroville, Pondicherry, and Chiang Mai, Thailand. Today, Aranya uses leaves, roots, barks, seeds, sawdust and tea waste to dye yarns and fabrics.
"People associate quality natural dyes with Aranya," said Victoria Vijayakumar, who runs the 22-member Aranya team. It has had exhibitions and sale in metros and even countries like Vietnam, and its internationally certified products have received business inquiries from Sri Lanka, Austria, the US and Japan.
Srishti also has other projects under its umbrella: Athulya, a paper-making project, runs on similar lines and Development Acti!
vities in
Rehabilitation (DARE) helps children with learning disabilities. Besides, Tata Tea runs hospitals in Munnar and is involved in regenerating the depleted Shola region and protecting the endangered species in the high ranges.
Tata Tea has decided not to cut down on its social responsibilities, despite the vagaries of business. The philanthropic group has a long history of promoting community activities, and as Ratan Tata, chairman of Tata Sons Ltd, says, "We are doing it for the satisfaction of knowing that we have really achieved and given something to the community in which we are working." Bhanumathy, who supports a family of three with the income she gets from Aranya, too, has a sense of satisfaction. "Today I get paid well for the job I am doing and my medical expenses are met by the company," says she. "I have learned to smile in life."
| Growing concern Astudy on corporate social responsibility (CSR), jointly done by UNDP, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, Confederation of Indian Industry and the British Council, saw a majority of corporates saying that they ranked ethical conduct including compliance and transpa-rency of business and nation building among the definitions closest to their perception of CSR. A good chunk of Indian exporters, for example, agreed that social compliance was paramount in securing orders abroad. The survey, done in late 2002, went through ten case studies and interviewed employees, local communities and regulatory bodies. It showed that social responsibility was not the exclusive domain of government and 'passive philanthropy' alone no longer constituted CSR. Most of the companies surveyed had included social responsibility in corporate strategy, and their top manage-ments were involved in its concep-tualisation and implementation. CSR was perceived as a mechanism to proactively address the significant regulatory requirements, especially those concerning health, safety and environment. Many companies saw a great future for earning profits through ethical conduct of business, complying with regulatory requirements, with greater emphasis on protection of environment, employee health and safety. Absence of a clear linkage between CSR and financial success was identified as the principal barrier to CSR. Lack of mechanisms to measure, monitor, evaluate and report impact of CSR initiatives was another problem. The study concluded that in the light of the evolving agenda, CSR would soon be part of mainstream curricula in business schools to ensure that managers of the future were imparted appropriate skills and sensitivities. |
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