HPCL's Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives exemplify a strategic alignment with national priorities.

HPCL has spent Rs 34.07 Crores focusing on healthcare in 21 states majorly covering eastern part of the country during FY 2015.

Rusen Kumar - Founder and Managing Editor of India CSR — Rusen Kumar – Founder and Managing Editor of India CSR

MUMBAI: The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) mandate in Companies Act of India, 2013 has ushered in a new age of accountability and responsibility among Public Sector Undertakings towards socio-economic development of the country. Oil major Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) has spent Rs 34.07 Crores focusing on healthcare in 21 states majorly covering eastern part of the country during FY 2015.

A case story on CSR of HPCL has featured in report ‘Good Corporate Social Responsibility Practices in India’, released in Mumbai on June 22, 2016 at CSR Conclave 2016 held at BSE auditorium, which also covered other larger corporations – Accenture, Bharti Foundation, Mahindra & Mahindra, L& T and TVS.

The report is jointly prepared by India Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) and IL&FS Academy of Applied Development (AAD) with the support of Hindustan Petroleum.

The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes of Public Sector Undertaking Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL) have established the parameters of partnership effectively with non-profits to achieve development outcomes.

“HPCL commenced CSR activities 8 years ago, guided by the Government guidelines for community engagement. The CSR focus areas have been directly adopted from Government priorities that point out to child development, education, skill development, livelihood, health care, and community developments are focus areas, aligned with national programmes and compliant to the Schedule VII of the CSR Act.”, report said.

Sonal Desai, General Manager, CSR of HPCL siad,” Our CSR philosophy is that programs should involve and leverage the business and give an opportunity for our employees to connect to the community and appreciate the importance of work in social inclusion.”

After a few years of execution, HPCL realised that CSR had to be linked better with the business practice for it to be more effective. It has undertook a visioning exercise that has resulted in a CSR policy that clearly defines value to community and company through responsibility efforts. Programmes have also been strategically deployed around HPCL’s area of the operation in its refineries and retail outlets:

Key highlights of the HPCL CSR:

Industry: Oil & Gas
Headquarter: Mumbai
Average profit in the past 3 years: Rupees 1701.49 crores
CSR investment: Prescribed Rs 34.03 crores, Actual CSR budget: Rs 34.07 crores
Social focus: Child development, education, healthcare, skill development, livelihood, PWD incusion
Location: Deployment of CSR programmes in 21 states in the country, around HPCL refineries, retail outlets and other points of presence
Implementing partners: Wockhardt Foundation, Nanhi Kali, Adapt, Akshaya Patra Foundation, ICI Foundation, NIIT, CII, Mithu Alur Foundation
Vision: Corporate Social Responsibility as a way of conducting business which enables creation and distribution of wealth for the betterment of the communities, stakeholders and society at large.
Project Focus: Last-mile access to affordable and quality healthcare in remote villages across India. Mobile health and HIV/AIDS awareness among truck drivers.
CSR Team: CSR team force of 9 people, CSR implementation led by partner NGOs, Employee teams get 40% allocation of the CSR budget for planning and executing on local CSR project.
Monitoring and evaluation: Monitoring: Daily feedback of activities and process is reported via sophisticated technology and tracking tools. In addition, partner reports and dipstick surveys form the Plant teams are prepared.
Assessment: Third party audits regularly conducted for the various running programme. Monthly, quarterly and annual reviews are conducted with partners. Feedback from monitoring is integrated into the MOUs for the succeeding years.
Sustainability: Beneficiary level exits happen organically is structured programmes. The community could also take over projects. There is no real programme level exit, specially for programmes in healthcare and education. The support is transferred form stable locations to those that need more support.
Employee engagement: CSR at HPCL is anchored around the areas of business operations so that employees can be closely involved in the execution of the programmes through regular volunteering and community engagement. Plant team directly own and exucute programmes for 40% of the yearly CSR budget. Senior executives are closely involved in setting the roadmap and vision for the programmes and take time out for regular interactions around CSR. This is a big boost for CSR credibility are adoption in the company.
Reach and impact: 7 vans reached 75 villages to provide last mile health care; 46000 girls children reached through Nanhi Kali; 20,000 children reached through mid-day meal programmes; 200 patients provided with free heart surgeries; 240 youth are trained for the jobs.