Berger Paints spends over Rs 15 Cr on CSR in FY21; Promotes vocational skill programme

New Delhi, 29 December 2021: Berger Paints Limited, an Indian multinational paint company has spent as much as Rs 15.61 crores under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) that included programme run for promoting employment enhancing vocational skill named ‘iTrain’.

The average net profit of the company for the past three years as per section 135(5) stood at Rs 774.62 crores and its two percent was calculated as Rs 15.49 crore, which was company’s mandatory CSR obligation. The excessive amount spent for the financial year 2020-21 was Rs 0.12 crore.  The amount is inclusive of administrative overheads cost of Rs 6.84 crores. During the last financial year, the company had spent an amount of Rs 16.79 crores towards its CSR activities.

The annual report of the company states, “At Berger Paints, we were quick to implement several welfare measures for the frontline workers/painters and shifting training modules online for training them under iTrain. Berger’s team of trainers utilised 43 iTrain training academies to conduct nearly 120,000 training sessions for more than 75,000 painters. Apart from skill up-gradation, special training on safe work practices, health, and hygiene was imparted to more than 40,000 painters.”

“The company has spent an amount of Rs 15.61 crore during the financial year 2020-2021 as against its 2% obligation amounting to Rs 15.49 crore, thereby exceeding its entire CSR obligation,” it added.

Due to the sudden surge of infections in the wake of the second wave of the COVID 19 pandemic, Berger Paints, as a responsible corporate citizen,also donated two medical oxygen generation systems as a part of its CSR obligation during May 2021.

Berger Paint’s CSR Committee

Kuldip Singh Dhingra is the Chairman of the CSR committee at Berger Paints. Other key members include Abhijit Roy, RishmaKaur, Kanwardip Singh Dhingra, and Dr Anoop Kumar Mitta. 

The role of the CSR committee is as follows:

• Recommend, formulate, and conduct CSR activities approved by the Board of Directors of the Company and ensure compliance of such CSR activities with the provisions of Schedule VII of the Companies Act, 2013
• Review, allocate, approve and recommend the budget for the CSR expenditures to be undertaken by the Company on an annual basis
• Monitoring compliance of the CSR Policy and the expenditures incurred on CSR activities
• The list of CSR projects or programmes that are approved to be undertaken in areas or subjects specified in Schedule VII of the Act and the Rules made thereunder as amended from time to time
• In case any of the CSR Activities to be undertaken are anticipated to be long term i.e. an ongoing project being for a term of 3 (three) years excluding the financial year in which it has commenced, then an estimate on implementation schedule or milestones should be submitted by the CSR Committee to the Board of Directors
• The manner of execution of such projects or programmes as specified above