1

Some details about Corporate Social Responsibility

A certain class of profitable companies is required to spend at least two per cent of their
three-year average annual net profit towards CSR activities. The norms came into force from
April 1, 2014.

Companies Act 2013 come into effect from April 1, 2014

Every company, private limited or public limited, which either has a net worth of Rs 500
crore or a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore or net profit of Rs 5 crore, needs to spend at least
2% of its average net profit for the immediately preceding three financial years on
corporate social responsibility activities

The CSR activities should not be undertaken in the normal course of business and must
be with respect to any of the activities mentioned in Schedule VII of the 2013 Act

Contribution to any political party is not considered to be a CSR activity

What are the activities under CSR?

The activities that can be undertaken by a company to fulfill its CSR obligations include
• eradicating hunger, poverty and malnutrition
• promoting preventive healthcare
• promoting education
• promoting gender equality
• setting up homes for women, orphans and the senior citizens
• measures for reducing inequalities faced by socially and economically backward groups
• ensuring environmental sustainability and ecological balance
• animal welfare
• protection of national heritage and art and culture
• measures for the benefit of armed forces veterans, war widows and their dependents
• training to promote rural, nationally recognized, Paralympics or Olympic sports
• contribution to the prime minister's national relief fund or any other fund set up by the
Central Government for socio economic development and relief
• welfare of SC, ST, OBCs, minorities and women
• contributions or funds provided to technology incubators located within academic
institutions approved by the Central Government
• Rural development projects.

If the company has been unable to spend the minimum required on its CSR initiatives, the
reasons for not doing so are to be specified in the Board Report. Where a company has a
website, the CSR policy of the company would need to be disclosed on such website.

2
 CSR activities of some companies
Accenture
• Corporate Citizenship
Corporate citizenship is fundamental to Accenture’s character and the way they run their
company as a high-performance business. It is anchored in their core values, their Code of
Business Ethics and, ultimately, reflected by their people who live and work in communities
around the world. Creating long-term value for the communities where they live and work and,
ultimately, increasing competitiveness for both business and the world as a whole.

• Skills to Succeed
Skills to Succeed draws on one of Accenture’s core competencies—training talent—to help
address the need for skills that open doors to employment around the world. It is a key aspect
of how they embed corporate social responsibility into their business. They exceeded their
original Skills to Succeed goal and increased their impact: by 2015, they plan to equip 500,000
people globally with the skills to get a job or build a business.

• Environment
They run and grow their business on an environmentally sustainable basis, cultivating eco-
efficient practices that include energy management and resource conservation. Environment
leads across geographies actively manage and monitor their resource conservation and energy,
water and waste management practices. Because more than 80 per cent of their environmental
footprint consists of carbon emissions generated from air travel and electricity, they are
committed to addressing both of these as they work to improve their environmental
performance.

• Energy management
They proactively manage energy use throughout the locations. Since fiscal 2009, their energy
efficiency programs have helped us save approximately 250,000 Megawatt hours of electricity,
which also avoided nearly 160,000 tons of carbon. In addition, in fiscal 2012,

To know more: http://careers.accenture.com/Microsites/uk-graduate/life/corporate-social-

responsibility/Pages/csr.aspx

3
Vodafone
Vodafone India Limited, through its CSR shall support programmes/projects and activities in
the following domains:
1. Empowerment - Programmes/projects that promote gender equality, support creation of
opportunities and facilitate employment for women, the differently abled and other weaker
sections of the society

2. Healthcare - Programmes/projects that help in reducing child mortality, improving

maternal health, combat and prevent diseases, facilitate hygiene and sanitation etc.

3. Education - Promote access and quality of education and foster research and development
through creating infrastructure, promote scholarships, research grants among others in
schools, colleges and universities

4. Environment - Supporting programmes/projects that focus on conservation of the

environment, encourage use of renewable energy, ensure environmental sustainability,
proper waste management, reducing the carbon footprint and preserve the balance of
ecology

5. Disaster Relief - Engage with not-for-profits to deliver programmes/projects that organize

relief work in times of natural calamities. Support use of mobile technology for reaching out
to the communities with news, updates, and warnings about the calamities.

6. Eradication of Poverty - Programmes/projects and initiatives to impart financial literacy to

facilitate financial inclusion

7. Technology Incubators Support a technology incubator with an objective of

institutionalizing employment generation activities as well as encourage development of
innovative technologies, products, services and application in the digital and
telecommunication space. These innovations will help in extending the CSR agenda of the
Company

To know more: http://www.vodafone.ie/aboutus/csr/

4
Britannia
For this Company, CSR means Corporate Sustainable Responsibility and this means
embedding CSR into its business model.

This covers two broad areas of:

a. Food-based solutions to increase nutrition as well as energy conservation, which

includes waste management. This Company continued its partnership with
Karnataka Nutrition Mission in some villages in Karnataka to comprehensively
address sanitation, health and immunization initiatives, and nutrition
supplementation for children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and nursing
mothers. The 1st phase of this project was completed during the year. The
“Britannia Nutrition Foundation” (BNF) was set up with the belief that every child in
India has the right to growth and development through good food - every day. The
Foundation disseminates scientific knowledge in the area of nutrition, builds
awareness of the massive malnutrition challenge and its solutions and creates a
platform for multi-sectoral dialogue and informed action. In 2013, BNF was selected
as the ‘nutrition partner’ in a first-of-its-kind project in India, under a municipal
corporation’s (East Delhi Municipal Corporation (EDMC)) jurisdiction. Through this
program BNF assessed the health and nutritional status, including height, weight and
hemoglobin of 50,000 children.

b. BNF also worked with Wadia Hospital in Mumbai to supplement the daily diets of all
IPD (In Patient Department) children with Tiger biscuits. The work of the Foundation
also featured on 2 independent programs on Television focusing on malnutrition: -
NDTV program on “Our Girls, Our Pride” in December 2013. - ‘The Quest for Shunya’
(on Times Now) in October 2013, on companies / organizations that are on a Quest
to reduce malnutrition. The commitments of your Company in addressing child and
maternal malnutrition were also included as a part of the SUN (Scaling Up Nutrition)
(which originated from the United Nations Standing 7 Britannia Annual Report 2013-
14 Committee on Nutrition (UNSCN) wherein UN agencies, Bilateral Partners and
NGOs / CSOs come together to exchange information and discuss nutrition related
issues) and DFID (Department for International Development of the Government of
UK) global commitments

To know more: http://www.britannia-biscuits.com/bnf/mcsr.html

5
Procter & Gamble
P&G’s flagship Corporate Social Responsibility Program Shiksha is an integral part of
their global philanthropy program - Live, Learn & Thrive. Now in its 8th year, Shiksha has till
date helped 280,000 underprivileged children access their right to education. The program has
built & supported over 140 schools across India, in partnership with NGOs like Round Table
India (RTI), Save the Children (STC), Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA) and Navy Wives
Welfare Association (NWWA), amongst others. Shiksha was launched in 2005 to enable
consumers to contribute towards the cause of education of under-privileged children through
simple brand choices. Since its inception, Shiksha has made a cumulative donation of over Rs.
22 crores towards helping children on the path to better education.

Shiksha’s NGO Partners – Shiksha’s vision is to help India get to 100% Shiksha someday, and it
is working towards this vision in partnership with NGOs like Save the Children India, Army
Wives Welfare Association (AWWA), Navy Wives Welfare Association (NWWA) and Round Table
India (RTI), amongst others.

Shiksha Schools – Shiksha aims to build the educational future of India ‘Brick – by – Brick’ by
addressing the need for better educational infrastructure and building the tangible asset of
schools. Shiksha’s interventions span across health and hygiene facilities at schools such as
clean drinking water and separate toilets for boys and girls and advanced educational aids.

Disaster Relief - India has braved several natural disasters in the recent past, such as the
Tsunami in South India, floods in Bihar or earthquakes in J&K and Gujarat. P&G has stepped
forward in each of these calamities and helped communities get back on their feet. Most
recently they helped rebuild the Army School in Ladakh, located in one of the most challenging
Himalayan Terrains, which was wrecked by the Flash Floods in 2010.

Parivartan - The Whisper School Program – P&G’s Parivartan (Transformation) Program has
been protecting millions of adolescent girls in India from getting trapped in traditional practices
of using unhygienic cloth for sanitary protection, by providing timely menstrual education. The
program has been improving the lives of over 2 Million girls annually across 15,000 schools in
India. The objective of the program is to help adolescent girls embrace womanhood positively
and enable them to adopt the right feminine hygiene practices to stay healthy and stay in
school. Parivartan ensures that adolescent girls do not miss school on account of periods and
initiates a series of cascading effects leading to a more equal gender status in the state.

To know more: https://www.pg.com/en_IN/sustainability/social_responsibility/social-

responsibility-programs-in-india.shtml
6
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF or the Gates Foundation) is the largest private
foundation in the world, founded by Bill and Melinda Gates. It was launched in 2000 and is said
to be the largest transparently operated private foundation in the world. The primary aims of
the foundation are, globally, to enhance healthcare and reduce extreme poverty, and in
America, to expand educational opportunities and access to information technology. The
foundation, based in Seattle, Washington, is controlled by its three trustees: Bill Gates, Melinda
Gates and Warren Buffett. Other principal officers include Co-Chair William H. Gates, Sr. and
Chief Executive Officer Susan Desmond-Hellmann.

It had an endowment of US $42.3 billion as of 24 November 2014. The scale of the

foundation and the way it seeks to apply business techniques to giving makes it one of the
leaders in venture philanthropy, though the foundation itself notes that the philanthropic role
has limitations. In 2007, its founders were ranked as the second most generous philanthropists
in America, and Warren Buffett the first. As of May 16, 2013, Bill Gates had donated US$28
billion to the foundation.

Financial services for the poor

Alliance for Financial Inclusion (AFI): A US$35 million grant for the AFI supports a
coalition of countries from the developing world to create savings accounts, insurance, and
other financial services that are made available to people living on less than $2 per day.

Financial Access Initiative: A US$5 million grant allows Financial Access Initiative to
conduct field research and answer important questions about microfinance and financial access
in impoverished countries around the world. Pro Mujer: A five-year US$3.1 million grant to Pro
Mujer—a microfinance network in Latin America combining financial services with healthcare
for the poorest women entrepreneurs—will be used to research new opportunities for the
poorest segment of the Latin American microfinance market. Grameen Foundation: A US$1.5
million grant allows Grameen Foundation to approve more microloans that support Grameen's
goal of helping five million additional families, and successfully freeing 50 percent of those
families from poverty within five years.

Agricultural development
International Rice Research Institute: Between November 2007 and October 2010, the
Gates Foundation offered US$19.9 million to the International Rice Research Institute. The goal
of the aid was to support the increasing world demand for rice. The Bill and Melinda Gates

7
Foundation claims: "To keep up with worldwide demand, the production of rice will have to
increase by about 70 percent in the next two decades."

Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA): The Gates Foundation has partnered
with the Rockefeller Foundation to enhance agricultural science and small-farm productivity
in Africa, building on the Green Revolution that the Rockefeller Foundation spurred in the
1940s and 1960s. The Gates Foundation has made an initial US$100 million investment in this
effort, to which the Rockefeller Foundation has contributed US$50 million.

Water, sanitation and hygiene - The foundation has been

supporting water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programmes in developing countries, as part
of their "Water, Sanitation, Hygiene Portfolio" in the Global Development Division prior to
2011.
Sanitation technology innovations - In 2011, the foundation launched a program called
"Reinvent the Toilet Challenge" with the aim to promote the development of innovations in
toilet design to benefit the 2.5 billion people that do not have access to safe and effective
sanitation.

Microbial fuel cell

The "Reinvent the Toilet Challenge" is focused on "reinventing the flush toilet". The aim
was to create a toilet that not only removes pathogens from human excreta, but also recovers
resources such as energy, clean water, and nutrients (a concept also known as reuse of
excreta). It should operate “off the grid” without connections to water, sewer, or electrical
networks. Finally, it should costs less than 5 US-cents per user per day.

Other global special initiatives - The foundation's special initiatives include responses to
catastrophes as well as learning grants that are used to experiment with new areas. Eg:

2004 Indian Ocean earthquake: The foundation made total grant donations of US$3
million to various charities to help with the aid effort for victims of the earthquake.
These charities include: CARE international, International Rescue Committee, Mercy
Corps, Save the Children, and World Vision.

2005 Kashmir earthquake: The foundation made a donation of US$500,000 for the
earthquake.

In 2014, the Gates Foundation released "flexible funds" in the order of US$50 million to
UN agencies and others involved in the work against the deadly Ebola in West Africa.

To know more: http://www.gatesfoundation.org/What-We-Do

8
Cognizant
Select Cognizant CSR initiatives Education and Livelihood Project Outreach –

Project Outreach

aims to promote quality education and employment enhancing vocational skills

channelizes the energy, passion and expertise of Cognizant associates towards volunteer
activities

4, 00,000 lives impacted through 120+ partner schools. 1000 infrastructure projects
through this program. Through Cognizant Foundation, educational infrastructure facilities are
made available to schools catering to the underprivileged and rural children, including setting
up science laboratories, computer centers and reading rooms. 16,500 underserved and rural
children impacted through 20 education projects since April 2014. These address key issues
such as inequitable access, quality of teaching input and poor infrastructure that prevent
marginalized sections of the community from reaping the benefits that education offers in their
quest for a better life.

Through Cognizant Foundation they provide access to livelihood skills to the

underprivileged to leverage better employment opportunities. 1500 people have benefitted
from 8 livelihood programs since April 2014. They received vocational training in different
sectors aimed at employment for disadvantaged youth and the differently abled. Digital
Literacy Cognizant in partnership with NASSCOM Foundation has set up NDLM centers in
Dodaballapura, a suburb in Bangalore and Munchintala village in Telangana, in order to bridge
the digital divide in the community by providing access to digital literacy. Cognizant volunteers
have translated the course content in Kannada and Telugu to have an impact on a wider rural
population and also actively volunteer to drive digital literacy in neighboring communities.

Quality Healthcare for Underprivileged Support diagnostic, surgical equipment, research

and technology needs of institutions that cater to healthcare for the underserved. Over 38,000
lives impacted through 9 healthcare projects since April 2014 with interventions such as
provision for medical equipment, simulation training center for emergency response training in
hospitals, mobile medical unit and support towards community health initiatives. Environment
Go Green: 4,000 employee volunteers are involved in grassroots clean-up efforts, recycling
campaigns and awareness-raising activities in their communities.

To know more: http://cognizantfoundation.org/

9
HCL
Project Samudhay: Initially plan to adopt and transform 100 villages with scalable models,
impacting village communities in five areas: water, women's welfare, education, health and
malnutrition and sanitation. HCLT Youth Centers Ÿ Programs include coaching (tuitions to help
students excel), skill development (basic computer applications, soft skills, home care, nursing,
retail, etc.), IT labs (access to computer training), mentoring and psycho-social support for
youth.

Bridge schools School dropouts from the community are enrolled in this open school and
receive after school coaching and training on extra-curricular activities.

Project Udaan: Program provides training and skill development to youth of Jammu and
Kashmir in partnership with NSDC, Government of India (Ministry of Home Affairs) and State
Government of J & K.

Project Shiksha: Program leverages technology and interactive content to impart education to
young children in schools with severe shortage of teachers.

At HCL, Corporate Programs in CSR have largely focused on the areas of improvement in
education, employability and livelihood opportunity for the disadvantaged. These three areas
are seen as a sustainable cycle leading to improvement of household incomes of the
communities HCL is focused on. HCL believes that a focused push on education and
employability skills will have an unparalleled impact on a community's overall progress due to
their direct co-relation with household incomes.

http://www.hcltech.com

http://www.hcltfoundation.org

www.bcgindia.com

10
IBM
IBM helps in capacity building for NGOs Introduced in 2010, Impact Grants help
recipient educational and not-for-profit organizations to enhance their IT infrastructure,
leadership and technology skills. The grants provide consultations with IBM experts and access
to IBM technology. The tailored solutions are developed in collaboration with organizations in
the not-for-profit sector, and are specifically designed to support them in their efforts to serve
their communities.

IBM uses technology to help young learners from remote areas to underprivileged areas
of towns and cities across India, the IBM KidSmart program is using technology to inspire young
learners Worldwide. The program is for children three to seven years of age and includes the
Young Explorer, a computer housed in brightly colored, kid-friendly Little Tikes furniture and
equipped with award winning educational software to help children learn and explore concepts
in math, science and language. In India, IBM supports government schools through their
KidSmart program. In India, the program started in 2003 and since its inception, the KidSmart
Program has positively impacted approximately 1, 00,000 children's lives.

The program is successfully running in 10 states and more than 30 cities in India,
including, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi / NCR, Rajasthan, Gujarat,
Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana. In 2014, the program has been implemented across 10
cities in India and will positively impact the lives of approximately 10,000 children.

IBM has always been committed to being a good corporate citizen. Back in the 1960s,
Thomas J. Watson, Jr., then CEO of IBM, established this commitment as one of IBM's
Principles. Corporate Responsibility has been embedded in the company through its corporate
policies, its management systems by which those policies are implemented, its business
conduct guidelines and IBM's values. The programs and responsibilities for meeting their
Corporate Responsibility objectives are integrated throughout the business.

The primary focus of IBM's corporate citizenship activities is on developing initiatives to

address specific societal issues, such as the environment, community economic development,
education, health, literacy, language and culture. IBM employs its most valuable resources,
technology and expertise, in order to create innovative programs in these areas to assist
communities around the world.

www.bcgindia.com
http://www-935.ibm.com/services/us/gbs/bus/html/gbs-green-csr.html

11