Since inception over two decades, Hyundai has been leading from the front and has been helping communities in India with numerous initiatives pertaining to educating them about Road Safety through #BeTheBetterGuy campaign, Clean India movement through introduction of Swachh Can in all Hyundai cars, Harnessing Entrepreneurship amongst youth through H-Social Creator program and so on and so forth.
In the current times of the COVID pandemic, Hyundai has led from the front and pioneered the Hyundai Cares program, additionally the next phase of #BethebetterGuy is starting from today. This month long campaign will entail various initiatives to educate customers about Road-Safety.
For India CSR Leadership Series Puneet Anand – Asst. Vice-President & Group Head – Corporate Affairs Unit, Hyundai Motor India Ltd shared how Hyundai Motor India serving the society and how the company responded during pandemic in different way. He also explained on Hyundai Cares Program. Excerpts of an interview:
What are your plans for this year #BeTheBetterGuy program considering the current situation?
#BeTheBetterGuy – Road Safety initiative is a continuous effort from Hyundai Motor India to spread awareness and sensitise masses about the importance of road safety. The initiative highlights the road safety practices through innovative and engaging content to bring behavioural change among all the stakeholders. Realising our vision of ‘Progress for Humanity’ we are committed towards curating unique social messages that instil Road Safety habits amongst individuals.
#BeTheBetterGuy road safety initiative is a flagship campaign of Hyundai Motor India since 2016 highlighting the need to observe safe driving habits such as following speed limits and traffic rules, avoiding the use of mobile phone while driving, usage of seatbelt, avoiding drunken driving, discouraging underage driving and pedestrian safety.
In addition to these, respecting the new normal, the campaign strongly advocates safe driving practices, maintaining hygiene & social distance, cultivating the habit of wearing masks when driving or riding in the car and periodic car sanitization for safety.
Hyundai has supported all stakeholders during this pandemic in different ways, what is your take on this and going forward what are your plans?
The on-going global challenge is preparing organizations to respond for tomorrow. Brands are working to plan strategies which will bring about new trends. Today, customers prefer brands that solve problems, focus on greener economics, and showcase the human side of the enterprise where communities and people focused social activities will take centre-stage.
Aligned with our global vision ‘Progress for Humanity’, we want to create an ideal world for the communities and become the fulcrum of COVID-warriors’ journey in these turbulent times.
Under our project Rakshak, we distributed 11.8 lakh masks and 80 thousand sanitizers across Indiaas an extension of our community healing endeavor to create a Safe and Healthy Environment for masses. The reusable Khadi masks were consciously procured from the self-reliant groups to support them financially and proudly make them a part of India’s fight against the pandemic. HMIL conducted ‘Grameen Sanitization’ drive under ‘Hyundai Cares 2.0 initiative Hyundai ‘Grameen Sanitization’ drive was conducted in over 300 rural locations across India. The sanitisation drive was initiated by Hyundai Branded Sanitization vehicles which went around public places sanitizing the areas including sarpanch house, schools, nursing centre, rural mandis, panchayat locations and government offices.
Another very ambitious initiative is Project Shikhak which enables uninterrupted education for COVID-19 warrior children in these times of distress. We plan to distribute 1000 educational devices across Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Kolkata. Beneficiaries between IV to XI standard will be able to avail 2 year free subscription of the educational curriculum.
Our ‘Saksham’ project is yet another significant initiative to boost Employment opportunities in diverse sectors. The outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic has increased the job losses adding to the stress of certain sectors especially healthcare. Apart from shortage of doctors and nurses, there is a huge requirement of support staff like attendants, medical assistants and skilled janitors. To cater to the shortage of skilled manpower, ‘SAKSHAM’ initiative will be first carried out in healthcare sector creating more livelihood opportunities for the unemployed youth. The program will offer several employment-oriented courses across sectors.
The first project in healthcare domain will run in 2 phases covering states of Maharashtra, Delhi and Haryana in first and state of Bihar in second phase along with few more states in the future. The project will provide both theoretical and on-job training modules to the individuals followed by placements. Post the training, students will be absorbed as Patient Attendants, Janitors, General Duty Attendants, etc. The project is expected to place about 580 trainees till December 2020.
What is Hyundai Cares Program?
As a responsible and caring brand, Hyundai has always been at the forefront which is in line with our global vision “Progress for Humanity”. All our initiatives in these times have been concerted under “Hyundai Cares”, covering:
- Contributed Rs. 7 Crores towards PM Cares fund
- Contributed Rs. 5 Crores to TN Chief Minister’s Relief Fund
- Donated advanced COVID-19 diagnostic testing kits worth Rs 4 Crore to ICMR-NIMR, imported from South Korea to test 25000 people
- Distributed more than 1,10,000 Personal Protective Equipment kits, 45,000 N-95 & 11,00,000 3 ply Face Masks, 80,000 Sanitizers, Medical consumables for front line workers & Incinerators for hospitals
- We are actively supporting production of Ventilators
- Supported state governments with over 6,000 dry ration kits and several other essential material donations
- Project Rakshak, Shikshak and Saksham will foster and enable all round safety and development for the COVID -Warriors
We have also undertaken a lot of Sales, Service, and dealership related initiatives to provide customers best of safe services.
How does it serve the purpose of community wellbeing and what are its pillars?
‘Safe Move’ is one of the key pillars of Hyundai Motor Group’s long-term road-safety CSR initiative across the globe. ‘Safe Move’ – Road Safety Campaign in India focuses on spreading awareness about the importance of road safety to bring about a significant behavioural change amongst masses.
Hyundai as an active automobile company, how do you prioritize stakeholders’ interest?
Our global vision of ‘Progress for Humanity’ is about building a strong, healthy and sustainable global community and become a Lifetime Partner in automobile and beyond of our customers and stakeholders. The auto industry world over has seen a negative impact owing to the pandemic. India is one of the fastest growing large economies in the world. It is also a young economy with a robust domestic demand, high savings rate and regulatory mechanisms which makes it a resilient economy. Looking at the current situation, Indian automobile industry will usher slowly and steadily from this crisis.
The change is constant but one recent and critical addition is that its pace is accelerating. In today’s scenario, the changes ahead that the world might witness could be surprising and create many unique ecosystems.
The future is shaping up to be like nothing that humans, the planet or the organisations have ever experienced. The way we work is changing histrionically. Hyundai’s approach towards change has been to embrace the future, meet the challenges, identify the opportunities and help our customers to join us in the new journey filled with new surprises. The on-going global challenge has also prepared organizations to begin responding for tomorrow. Brands are working to plan strategies which will bring about new trends. We expect customers to prefer brands that will solve problems, focus on greener economics and showcase the human side of enterprise where communities and people focused social activities will take centre-stage.
There has been a noticeable shift in the recent past, where digital models of retail and sales are garnering traction amongst buyers. Customers are now factoring in convenience to their purchase journey, even for products such as Automobiles.
