New Delhi – HDFC Bank Ltd spent Rs 443.8 crore on corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives during the year ended 31 March, bettering FY18 performance by 20%, the company said in its integrated annual report released on Wednesday (14 Aug).
India’s largest private sector lender undertakes CSR initiatives under Parivartan and has impacted 5.4 crore people. The bank works with over 80 partners across the country to implement its social initiatives.
Company’s CSR activities are centered on financial literacy & inclusion, rural development, health & hygiene, skill development & livelihood generation, education and rural development.
Sustainable Livelihood Initiative (SLI) has been the single biggest contributor, directly impacting over 96 lakh women beneficiaries and overall 5 crore people, the company claimed in its annual report.
Under SLI, women are given occupational skills training, financial literacy, and credit counselling in addition to credit through Self-Help Groups (SHGs) or Joint Liability Groups (JLGs).
‘Teaching–the–Teacher’ programme has been the second biggest contributor for overall CSR programmes covering 15 lakh teachers and 1.6 crore students, the report said.
“We are trying to bring about holistic, sustainable, long-term impact in their [people’s] lives helping them as well as the nation progress,” Ashima Bhat, Group Head-CSR, Business Finance & Strategy Administration and Infrastructure at HDFC Bank.
Among other key initiatives, the company constructed/refurbished over 6,900 school sanitation units; implemented Holistic Rural Development Programme (HRDP) in over 1,100 villages in 17 states as on 31 Mar 31 against 870 villages across 16 states in the year ago period; trained 7.6 lakh women in SHGs and 72,000 farmers and provided over 21,000 renewable units, the report said.
HDFC Bank had embarked on its Integrated Reporting Journey in the year ended 2017-2018 (Apr-Mar) by identifying and defining its capitals. This year, the bank has taken the logical next step by coming out with a standalone Integrated Report, a company release said.
