Tata Steel Ltd spent Rs. 170.76 crores towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) during the fnancial year 2012-13 which is 3.37% of the company’s Prot After Tax (PAT) excluding spend on Environment Sustainability which is about Rs. 300 crores.
India CSR Exclusive: The Tata Steel CSR initiatives touched nearly 2 million lives last year, Tata Steel said in its Annual Report for the year 2012-13. Profit After Tax at Rs 5063 crores during the financial year 2012-13 was lower by 24% as compared to Rs 6696 in the financial year 2011-12.
The amount was spent under broad categories such as infrastructure development to improvement to the quality of the life of the community, community development, health & medical support and support to charities and NGOs & Government for social causes.
The operational area of the Company is the state of Jharkhand and Odisha are plagued by poor social infrastructure for health services, education, road, electricity and other basic amenities. The range of interventions encompassed infrastructure support to rural and urban schools through scholarships and coaching classes as well as incentives like free mid-day meals to encourage attendance form part of its key thrust area for improving the quality of life.
Solar Streetlight Project
For instance, under the solar streetlight project, Tata Steel installed solar streetlights in villages. To ensure the upkeep of installed lights and their sustained use by the village community, discussions were held with the community resulting in the constitution of committees called ‘Urja Samitee’. Select members from the village community are enlisted in the Urja Samitees (Energy Committees) and are responsible for the maintenance of the solar panels.
Thrust Area for CSR
Tata Steel focuses on responsible business practices with community-centric interventions. The thrust area for Tata Steel are sustainable livelihood-specially skill development and employability training, education and health care, all of which constitute the Human Development Index- a quality of life indicator. Partners for CSR Implementation Tata Steel partners with NGOs, Governments and funding agencies to implement its CSR interventions in the thematic area of health, education, livelihoods and ethnicity. Through employee volunteerism, it also utilises in-house resource persons.
The CSR activities are implemented through the following delivery arms:
1. Corporate Sustainability Services comprising, Tata Steel Rural Development Society (TSRDS), Tribal Culture Society (TCS), Tata Steel Family Initiatives Foundation (TSFIF), Tata Steel Skill Development Society (TSSDS), Urban Services and Education
2. Medical Services
3. Sports Department
4. Tata Steel Adventure Foundation
5. Jamshedpur Utilities & Services Company Limited
6. Other societies such as Ardeshir Dalal Memorial Hospital, Blood Banks, Kanti Lal Gandhi Memorial Hospital, etc.
7. Tata Relief Committee
Impact Assessment
The impact assessment is done through various methods such as social audit, aspiration surveys, the village-level study of the Human Development Index (HDI) and XISS JRD Tata Chair.
Social Audit: As a socially responsible corporate citizen, Tata Steel commissions social audits through independent professionals to get an authentic and comprehensive review of its social activities. The Social Audit is conducted in ten years.
Aspiration Surveys: Conducted among communities residing in the operational areas of Tata Steel in Odisha.
Village Level Study of Human Development Index (HDI): Conducted by a team of researchers from Xavier Labour Research Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur.
XISS JRD Tata Chair: The ‘JRD Tata Chair’ has been instituted at Xavier Institute of Social Services, Ranchi with the objective of conducting a study on ‘ Contribution of Tata Steel towards Sustainable Development.
The value underpinning all business actions at Tata Steel is to serve Common Good, ensuring that all its excellence programs integrate economic, environmental and social performance driven.
What Does Sustainability Means to Tata Steel?
Tata Steel has been one of the rst companies in India to adopt sustainability as a policy. It is a core value, built on our respect for people, our desire for growth and our respect for the environment.
Building further on this vision, Tata Steel is the rst Indian company to be a part of the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) – an international initiative towards voluntary communication on how an organisation’s strategy, governance, performance and prospects lead to the creation of value over the short, medium and long-term.
(Tata Steel, 106th Annual Report-2012-13)
(Sourced from CSR & Competitiveness, August 2013)
