ITC: CSR as a business model

Chairman Y.C. Deveshwar reviews the CSR projects twice a year.

It is ironical that a cigarette manufacturer should be one of India's first companies to look at sustainable and eco-friendly production as part of its corporate social responsibility. But, driven by chairman Y.C. Deveshwar himself, ITC has been doing just that.

ITC's 'A Commitment Beyond the Market' initiative is a mutually beneficial model, where social development is integrated with its businesses, including cigarettes, paper and paperboards, food products, and hotels. So, while its farm and social forestry projects aim at increasing forest cover and restoring ecological balance, for ITC, it creates a sustainable source for timber. Its watershed development projects improve soil content in dry lands, giving ITC a bigger sourcing area for agricultural inputs. Or take e-choupal. By providing online market-related information, ITC not only empowers farmers, but also gains from more reliable and better quality inputs.

ITC has a written policy on CSR and has identified specific people to head the respective projects. The board reviews the projects once a year and the corporate management committee, headed by Deveshwar, twice a year. In 2002-03, it spent Rs 17.94 crore on various projects, including for women empowerment and education.

Wipro: Moulding a generation

Chairman Premji wants to inject creativity into the education system.

This company may not have a written policy on CSR, but it has the qualifications to make it to our list of finalists. Part of India's knowledge economy, Wipro is doing what it knows best.

The Applying Thought in Schools project aims to enhance the quality of learning for school-going children by providing a six-month intensive training for teachers and school principals. The focus is on encouraging independent and creative thinking, building problem-solving skills and helping children become what they want. Initially, Wipro has chosen to cover English-medium private schools in urban areas. As the company says, "All sections of society (both the haves and the have nots) face the same problems as far as the issue of quality of education is concerned. In this sense, everyone is disadvantaged." To ensure the programme is sustainable, the project also trains parents of the school children.

Wipro started the project closer home, in five schools in Bangalore, and has now taken it to 80 schools across 10 cities. So far, it has trained 1,800 teachers at a cost of Rs 1.44 crore.

All this is outside of the work done by Wipro Cares and chairman Azim Premji's own foundation.

Indal: Breaking income barriers

Chairman Kumaramangalam Birla considers CSR an important business goal.

The Birlas have been at the forefront of philanthropy in India. At group company Indian Aluminium Company (Indal), the mission statement is: 'To pursue the creation of value for all its customers, shareholders, employees and society at large'.

Indal realises that operating in rural underdeveloped areas means that income gaps between its own employees and those not employed by the company get highlighted. Hence, it tries to improve the stand of living of the local host community near its operating units. Key among the programmes it takes up are health, literacy, skills training and income generation. Other programmes include hygiene, sanitation, environment programmes and water harvesting.

While Indal already has documents on environmental policy and energy policy, it is still in the process of working out a document on its corporate social responsibility. Currently, it carries out various development activities under the aegis of the Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development run by Rajashree Birla. CEO S.K. Tamotia and vice-president (HR) A.K. Basu review the projects on a quarterly basis. And last year, it spent a total of Rs 69.26 lakh on CSR programmes.