New Delhi, 16 August 2020: Ambuja Cement has performed exceptionally on Corporate Social Responsibility by spending more than the double of prescribed CSR budget for the year 2019-20. The company’s total spends on its CSR activity for the year stood at Rs 62.57 core while the prescribed CSR budget for the leading cement maker was only Rs 26.71 crore.
The prescribed CSR budget for a company is calculated as the 2 % of the average profit over last three financial years. However, the company’s actual CSR spend was Rs 62.57 Crores, which was around 4.68% of the Average Net Profit of the last three years.
The company’s net profit for the year 2019-20 stood at Rs 1,528 Crore and the average net profit of the company for last three financial years stood at Rs 1,335.64 Crore.
The company’s CSR committee is headed by N. S. Sekhsaria who is the Principal Founder of the Company.
Ambuja Cement CSR through Ambuja Cement Foundation
The Company carries on its CSR activities primarily through its social development arms Ambuja Cement Foundation (ACF) and Ambuja Vidya Niketan Trust.
Ambuja Cement Foundation (ACF) was established in 1993. Since then, the foundation has been working mainly with communities around ACL’s manufacturing sites, across thirty-two districts in eleven states. The key identified programme areas of ACF are Natural Resource Management (Land and Water Resource Management),Livelihood Promotion (Agro-based Livelihoods and Skill and Entrepreneurship Development), Human Development (Community Health and Sanitation,Education and Women Empowerment) and Rural Infrastructure Development.
The thematic areas for company’s CSR activities included water resource management, livelihood promotion, social development and infrastructure development.Keeping in line with its mission to Energise Involve and Enable communities, "ACF involves local people throughout the program cycle i.e. needs assessment, project planning, implementation and for monitoring. The focus has been on building capacities within the communities and creating local institutions which ensure ownership among the communities for the projects and sustains the development efforts. The approach has resulted in enabling and empowering local people’s institution such as Women’s Federations, Farmer Producer Companies, Water User Associations, among others," the company said.
Company’s water resource management program focuses on water conservation, promotion of safe drinking water and judicial use of water through promotion of micro irrigation. Local issues such as water scarcity in desert, salinity in coastal region, over exploitation of groundwater is addressed through strategic efforts.
Its agro-based livelihood promotion efforts include Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), promotion of Systematic Rice Intensification (SRI),organic farming, agro-forestry and horticulture promotion.
Further, the Ambuja Hospital Trust is a non-profit trust promoted by ACL to provide healthcare services to the community surrounding ACL’s plantat Kodinar. Kodinar is a remote rural area with the nearest urban centre and multi-specialty healthcare services being located morethan 200 kilometres away. In 2019, the Ambujanagar Multi-specialty Hospital reached out to about 44755 patients.
Ambuja Cement Foundation’s education program in communities also aims at providing quality education for children in government run schools. Ambuja Manovikas Kendra,Ropar, Punjab caters to children with disabilities. Further, the company promotes education in the five integrated plants through Ambuja Vidya Niketan Trust (AVNT). All five AVNTs are affiliated with CBSE and provide quality education to children of Ambuja employees as well as from the community.
