1. Find a company in India and describe its CSR activities and achievements.

2. Are there any advantages and disadvantages that you find in the company’s
approach to CSR?

3. What are the implications for Vietnamese firms from the company?

Outline

1. Reliance Industries Limited introduction

2. CSR activities and achievements

3. Company’s approach to CSR: advantages and disadvantages

4. Implications for Vietnamese firms

Content
1. Introduction (Hieu)

Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is an Indian multinational conglomerate company

headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra.

- owns businesses across India

- is one of the most profitable companies in India

- The company is ranked 106th on the Fortune Global 500 list of the world's biggest
corporations as of 2019

Industry: Conglomerate - Energy, petrochemicals, textiles, natural resources, retail, and

telecommunications.

Major subsidiaries and associates

On 31 March 2013, the company had 158 subsidiary companies and 7 associate
companies.

 Reliance Retail is the retail business wing of the Reliance Industries.

 Reliance Life Sciences works around medical, plant and

industrial biotechnology opportunities.

 Reliance Institute of Life Sciences (RILS), established by Dhirubhai Ambani

Foundation, is an institution offering higher education in various fields of life
sciences and related technologies.

 Reliance Logistics is a single-window company selling transportation, distribution,

warehousing, logistics, and supply chain-related products, supported by in-house
telematics and telemetry solutions.

 Reliance Clinical Research Services (RCRS), a contract research organisation (CRO)

and wholly owned subsidiary of Reliance Life Sciences, specialises in the clinical
research services industry.

 Reliance Solar, the solar energy subsidiary of Reliance, was established to

produce and retail solar energy systems primarily to remote and rural areas

 Relicord is a cord blood banking service owned by Reliance Life Sciences. It was
established in 2002.
 Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) previously known as Infotel Broadband, is a
broadband service provider which gained 4G licences for operating across India.

 Reliance Industrial Infrastructure Limited (RIIL) is an associate company of RIL.

The main objective being to build and operate cross-country pipelines for
transporting petroleum products.

 LYF, a 4G-enabled VoLTE device brand from Reliance Retail.[65]

 Network 18, a mass media company. It has interests in television, digital
platforms, publication, mobile apps, and films.

 Reliance Eros Productions LLP, joint venture with Eros International to produce
film content in India.

2. CSR activities and achievement (Vinh + Nhat)

● Activities:
Rural Transformation
To work towards bridging the developmental gap between rural 'Bharat' and
urban India by improving livelihood, addressing poverty, hunger and malnutrition.
Key initiatives include:
a) Supporting Farm and non-farm livelihoods
b) Improving water conservation and rain - water harvesting
c) Developing community based initiatives like VFAs and producer companies
towards building capacity of the community and ensuring sustainability.
d) Using technology towards delivering need based information for improving
quality of life.
e) Improving food security and enhancing nutrition
f) Developing Community infrastructure
Healthcare
To address issues around affordability and accessibility of quality healthcare and
bring about improvement in awareness and health seeking behavior in various
parts of India, enabling a better living, through initiatives such as:
a) Primary, secondary and tertiary care facilities
b) Conducting need based health camps and providing consultation, medicines
etc.
c) Working on maternal and child health
d) Behavioral change for improved mother and child health
e) Improving healthcare delivery through innovative outreach programmes
f) Working for the visually impaired
g) Working in the areas of Communicable and non-communicable diseases
h) Using technology for training, competency evaluation and clinical decision
support for medical professionals with a view to improve quality of healthcare
Education
To work on several educational initiatives to provide quality education, training,
skill enhancement for improving the quality of living and livelihood. Initiatives are
aimed at:
a) Promoting primary and secondary education
b) Enabling higher education through merit cum means scholarships, including for
differently abled across the country.
c) Using sports as a tool for development of students in both urban and rural
settings
d) Promoting higher education including setting up and supporting universities
e) Skill development and vocational training
Environment
To enable enhanced livelihood and quality of life, promote environment
sustainability through various initiatives for:
a) Ecological sustainability
b) Promoting biodiversity
c) Conservation of natural resources
d) Maintaining quality of soil, air and water
e) Promoting renewable energy
f) Developing gardens and river fronts
 Protection of national heritage, art and culture
To work towards preserving the rich heritage, arts and culture of India for its
future generation and make conscious efforts to ensure its continuity and
enhance avenues for livelihoods of traditional artisans and craftsmen. Key
initiatives include:
a) Working towards protecting and promoting India's art, culture and heritage
through various promotional and developmental projects and programmes.
b) Support and promotion of artists and craftsman
c) Promotion and preservation of traditional art and handicraft
d) Documenting India's rich heritage for the benefit of future generations
Disaster Response
RIL has a track record of organizing timely relief and rehabilitation of communities
affected by natural calamities. To strengthen efforts in the area of Disaster
Response towards establishing RIL as one of the leading organizations with the
capacity to respond in a timely and impactful manner in the affected areas. Key
initiatives include:
a) Building capacities of local communities to respond to disasters
b) Developing expertise and resources to respond to disaster
● Achievement:
1. Rural Transformation

Reliance provides critical information to rural populations in the areas of agriculture,

animal husbandry, marine/inland fisheries, employment and skilling, government
schemes/subsidies, insurance, civic services, health, education, micro-enterprises and
local e-commerce linkages.
The rural transformation initiatives have helped empower communities, improved the
quality of livelihood assets, provided food, nutrition and water security, improved access
to markets, empowered people through technology and diversified livelihood options.

The initiatives under the rural transformation programme have contributed to various
national priority missions such as Gram Uday Se Bharat Uday Abhiyan, Unnat Bharat
Abhiyan, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Skill India Mission and Digital India.

More than 7 million people across 18,000 villages have been impacted through the rural
transformation programme. The population served through this programme are small
and marginal farmers, livestock owners and fishermen.

2. WATER SECURITY

Water being vital for an agrarian economy, Reliance endeavours to make its intervention
villages water secure. Towards this end, 85.8 billion litres of water harvesting capacity
has been created, since inception, by constructing or renovating water harvesting
structures, including earthen/masonry dams and check dams, farm ponds, open wells,
etc. These efforts resulted in 434 villages becoming water secure.
Most of these villages have formed water user groups for managing and regulating
usage. The positive impact created through water interventions has resulted in reduced
drudgery for women, who apart from tending to their household duties, also have to
walk several kilometres to fetch water. It has also increased the land use, cropping
intensity, agricultural production and income for communities. Owing to this effort, over
38,500 hectares of land have received assured irrigation for two cropping seasons.

Reliance also partnered with several non-government organisations, including Paani

Foundation, to promote the cause of water conservation.

3. NUTRITION SECURITY
Interventions promoting nutrition have continued to yield significant results in the form
of more than 13,000 Reliance Nutrition Gardens (RNGs) that have positively impacted
over 1 lakh individuals this year.

Reliance has entered into a partnership with the Government of Maharashtra under its
Rajmata Jijau Nutrition Mission to promote RNGs in anganwadi premises in 16 districts.
Early results of an internal impact study indicates that the average production of fresh
fruits and vegetables was more than 300 Kgs in a year. The introduction of fresh fruits
and vegetables in the daily food intake of the children has improved their general
nutrition level. This initiative is improving the dietary intake of over 2 lakh children.

4. DE-RISKING AND DIVERSIFYING LIVELIHOODS

The alternative livelihoods promoted by Reliance provide protection against
uncertainties and catastrophes that affect households dependent on agriculture. Small
and marginal farmers were encouraged to take up goat-rearing, poultry, bee keeping,
nursery raising, mushroom cultivation and vermi-composting and other viable options.

To augment the livelihoods of existing livestock owners, Reliance has conducted over
1,190 livestock camps in remote locations. Through these camps, over 2.1 lakh livestock
animals have been provided treatment, which includes vaccination, artificial
insemination, improved breeding practices, deworming, etc. Improved livestock health
translates into augmented incomes for the poor and landless.

This year, 18,000 rural families have benefitted from alternative livelihoods (more than
37,000 families since inception) with 15% more income as compared to the previous
year.
 5. ECOLOGICAL SECURITY

Ecological security is of importance to everyone, but within the rural context, it becomes all
the more significant since ecological degradation can directly impact their livelihoods and
their lives. To provide the much needed ecological security, Reliance is moving towards
climate smart agriculture through the following practices:

● Improving soil health

● Enhancing the green cover through large-scale plantation activities
● Encouraging horticultural activities

These measures have led to significant improvement in soil texture, structure, microbial
activity and aeration. This year, over 5,800 farmers were assisted in conducting soil health
tests (over 19,200 tests since inception). Increase in availability of water and significant
reduction in soil erosion have resulted in improved land productivity. For many households,
it has served as a medium of additional income.

On World Environment Day, rural communities and employees were motivated to plant
saplings. The event saw an enthusiastic participation of over 20,000 people from over 150
villages across 12 states.

To promote biodiversity, over 0.49 million saplings were planted during FY 2018-19 (over
21.5 million saplings planted since inception).

7. Healthcare
Community Health Outreach Operations
During the year, more than 25,500 families were enrolled for the Health Outreach
Program (1.79 lakh families since inception) and availed healthcare services at a location
which is accessible and at an affordable cost from a team of qualified Health Care
professionals.

The five Mobile Medical Units (MMUs) and three Static Medical Units (SMUs) of the the
RFH Health Outreach programme reaches out to 11 wards and 74 marginalised urban
slum locations in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai.

Over 1.5 lakh consultations took place this year (5.8 lakh since inception). This includes
over 27,000 specialist consultations (over 95,000 since inception).

Apart from the patient consultations, the RFH Health Outreach programme has
undertaken several specialised programmes.

During the year, 16,636 women in the reproductive age group were screened for
anaemia and over 10,000 were diagnosed as anaemic. These women were provided with
nutrition counselling and health awareness. The moderate and severe anemia cases
were treated with hematinic and deworming as per protocol. Those requiring specialised
treatment were referred to RFH.

In the year 2018-19, more than 11,500 children under the age of 5 were screened and
550 children were identified as malnourished and supported by way of free of cost
treatment and counselling support.

8. Education
DHIRUBAI AMBANI SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMME

In order to nurture talented young leaders, the Dhirubhai Ambani Scholarship (DAS)
programme has so far provided financial support to 12,285 meritorious students to
pursue graduation in any stream and institution of their choice.

Nearly half of the DAS scholars are girls, while one-fifth are specially-abled students.
During FY 2018-19, DAS programme supported 504 students across the country.

During the year, three alumni meets were held in Mumbai, Bangalore and Vadodara in
which around 100 alumni participated.

CUMULATIVE SCHOLARS UNDER DAS PROGRAMME

RELIANCE FOUNDATION SCHOOLS

Reliance Foundation Schools are committed to provide an enjoyable and enriching
educational experience to children. Currently, there are 13 Reliance Foundation Schools,
which are located in Jamnagar, Surat, Vadodara, Dahej, Lodhivali, Nagothane, Nagpur
and Navi Mumbai, educating over 14,500 children annually. The schools offer education
from kindergarten to Class 12 and are affiliated to CBSE, Gujarat State Board and
Maharashtra State Board.

In the 2018, Class 10 CBSE Board examinations, the pass percentage of Reliance
Foundation Schools was 98.8%. In Class 12 CBSE Board examinations, the pass
percentage was 97.8% and 100% in Science and Commerce streams, respectively. The
pass percentage in Maharashtra State Board examinations was 100% in Class 10 and 98%
and 90% in Class 12 Science and Commerce streams, respectively. In the Gujarat State
Board examinations, pass percentage was 91% in both Class 10 and Class 12 Science
stream.

9. Sport for development

RELIANCE FOUNDATION YOUNG CHAMPS (RFYC)

RFYC is a unique, scholarship-based, full-time residential football and education

programme. It aims to provide India’s best aspiring football talents the opportunity to
hone their skills with world-class facilities and best-in-class training. This year, 19 young
football talents were awarded scholarships to develop their football skills, taking the
total to 61 scholarships across 15 states. Under the programme, 46 Young Champs went
on an international exposure trip to Spain and Japan where they got an opportunity to
play friendly matches with international teams representing elite football clubs.
RELIANCE FOUNDATION JR. NBA PROGRAMME

The RF Jr NBA programme is aimed at promoting school based basketball all over India,
with a special focus on training coaches and providing quality equipment. In its sixth
year, this programme has reached out to 6 million children across 7,900 schools from 34
cities. All these schools have adopted and implemented the training modules prepared
by Reliance Foundation and have integrated basketball into their school curriculum. To
boost the basketball skills among schools, the programme conducts coaching on physical
education and skills development for teachers and children. Further, the programme
refurbished over 10,000 basketball courts.

RELIANCE FOUNDATION YOUTH SPORTS (RFYS)

Launched in 2016, RFYS programme conducted competitions across schools and colleges
from more than 70 cities to discover the untapped talent in the country. It reached out
to over 5.5 million children, adolescents and youth. This year, the programme scaled up
its talent hunt for athletes across 30 cities. It registered over 20,000 athletes (including
7,000 girls) from 3,500 institutes participating in various events, including sprints, relays,
short-distance run, long-distance run, high jump, long jump and shotput. For enhancing
skills and better sporting performance, the programme organised a training camp for 37
best athletes of the previous season, conducted by the International Association of
Athletics Federation Level-4 Coaches from Australia. The camp introduced sports science
to athletics training, which included mental EQ evaluation. As a result of this, nine
athletes were able to better their previous national records.

10. Disaster response

During FY 2018-19, the Company helped communities affected by floods and cyclones in
Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Gujarat, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
KERALA FLOOD RELIEF
The Reliance family worked relentlessly to support the flood affected communities of
Kerala when heavy rains battered the state in August 2018. Using the digital platform,
early warning messages were provided to states where the Indian Meteorological
Department had declared a red-alert. When continuous rainfall brought life to a
standstill and caused widespread damage, Reliance geared up its team and distributed
relief kits to provide immediate sustenance to the affected families across 6 districts. As
part of the support, relief materials were distributed to over 74,000 affected families.
Additionally, fodder kits were distributed and livestock health camps were conducted to
secure over 3,000 animals against immediate and medium-term health risks emanating
from floods.

Award of achivevement:
 International Refiner of the year in 2017 at Global Refining and Petrochemicals
Congress 2017
 International Refiner of the Year in 2013 at the HART Energy's 27th World
Refining & Fuel Conference
 RIL was certified as 'Responsible Care Company' by the American Chemistry
Council in March, 2012.
 RIL was awarded the National Golden Peacock Award 2011 for its contribution in
the field of corporate sustainability.
  The company was selected as one of the world's 100 best managed companies
for the year 2000 by IndustryWeek magazine.
 From 1994 to 1997, the company won National Energy Conservation Award in the
petrochemical sector.

3. Company’s approach to CSR (Duy + Tùng)

Approach to CSR in IRL: Proactive approach in CSR
It shows in company responsibility:
- Economic responsibilities
- Legal responsibilities
- Ethical responsibilities
- Philanthropic responsibilities
1. The first major advantage is the fact that RIL is one of the most profitable companies
in India. By being one of the most profitable companies in India alone, it has fulfill the
first responsibility, being profitable, making money for the company itself and for the
society. There are no doubt in the fact that RIL has done a great job in making money
and being economical responsible. Moreover, since RIL is a big, national company, it has
also fulfill the second responsibility of being legally active in the society. There has been
no sign of violating the legal regulations of the society.
2. The second advantage is that RIL doesn’t work in one single industry. It is a
combination of many entities operating in different fields, ranging from energy/
telecommunications to retail and smaller business. This means that the CSR (or more
specific, the implications of CSR) of the company varies with its branches down the
chart. With each different industry, there are different ways of doing CSR such as in the
energy industry, it can hold campaigns to encourage people to use clean energy, which
leads to a healthier society, … or in the retail industry, it can have promotions that make
people aware of many problems in the society, … All in all, being a multi-field company, it
has its own perks of doing better CSR.
3. There are a lot of chances for RIL to improve its CSR due to the fact that India has a
wide gap between its social classes. There are big differences between the upper and
the lower class (the rich and the poor) and since RIL is one of the biggest
company/corporation in India they have many chances of helping others, which
improves its overall CSR. There are a lot of things that RIL can do to fulfill the social
responsibilities. Besides, RIL does more than its field of operation, they join hands to
help other people in society through philanthropic action.
 Proactive approach
● Advantages:
+, ensures achievement and support of long-term competitive advantages through the
complex of value-oriented actions.
+, Profitability and Value: A CSR policy improves company profitability and value. The
introduction of energy efficiencies and waste recycling cuts operational costs and
benefits the environment.
+, Better Customer Relations
+, Better Employee Relations
● Disadvantages:
There are also disadvantages that can affect RIL’s CSR:
+, The use of CSR proactive strategy is considered as a complex of value-oriented actions
+, The operating system of RIL is too big to make sure every entity, branches do its best
in improving CSR of RIL
+, It is very hard for RIL to balance between its own benefits and the social benefits since
it can cost a lot to fulfill the CSR requirements of the society
+, Conflicts with the Profit Motive. The cost of CSR can be an obstacle. Some critics
believe that corporate social responsibility can be an exercise in futility.
+, Consumers are Wise to Greenwashing. It means that they are more likely not trusting
the action the company does. The benefit of brand-recognition is somehow not clarified.

4. Implication for Vietnamese firms (Hiếu)

 Demonstrate practical CSR actions that create trust in the public
 Implementing CSR is more than just an external activity, internal focus can bring
positive results to operational efficiency.
 It is important to clearly and publicly disclose the CSR value information that the
company wishes to implement so that everyone can capture it. Thereby,
commitment to practice CSR from businesses
 Consider the approaches to suit the type, size and strategy of the company
because CSR has difficulties in implementation leading to reversal of business
performance.
 In the long term, CSR should be attached to the core values of the company