Pradnya Shinde is Head - Corporate Sustainability at Voltas. She has more than one-and-a-half decade of experience in aligning business growth with community development projects aimed at driving social change and creating shared value. In the year 2019-20, she led CSR initiatives at Voltas with special focus on education and skill development areas.
In this interview with TheCSRUniverse, she shares how Voltas CSR team responded to the COVID crisis. She also talks about CSR law and shares insight on how CSR can be much more effective…
Interview Highlights:
- In the past few years, there has been a conscious paradigm shift from charity-based support to strategic intervention
- Since COVID has affected millions of working people, skilling and training of the youth will play a crucial role going forward due to its sustainability factor
- There is room for a lot more improvement as most companies still have a check-box approach to CSR.
- We need stronger laws that encourage organisations to take accountability for improvement of the communities they operate in
- that CSR efforts need to be need-based, strategic, inclusive and building sustainability at large
- We plan to create a pool of 45,000 well-trained technicians by 2025 through skill development in the technical and non-technical streams with special attention to girls/women skilling
Scroll down to read interview excerpts with Pradnya Shinde is Head - Corporate Sustainability at Voltas
Complete Interview: Pradnya Shinde, Head - Corporate Sustainability, Voltas
Q: The COVID outbreak has brought a sudden change of direction for CSR also. What has been your CSR response to this crisis?
A: In these difficult times, the Tata Group is coming together to help citizens of the country. Voltas’ Project Business Team has been roped in along with other Tata companies for setting up Isolation Centres. Voltas is providing help in designing, supply chain and executional support of providing Ventilation in the Quarantine Centres created by Tata Team to Tata Projects and Tata Consulting Engineers.
Government has also approached the Group for making ventilators for the patients. Voltas UPBG R&D and DPG team has been roped in to support Tata Motors team for the project.
Voltas is also helping in the conversion of existing medical facilities such as AIIMS, Bhatinda, and Guwahati Medical College and Hospital to convert standard wards into Covid-19 isolation wards using smart ventilation solutions. This includes building test centers to predictive maintenance of Chillers in Hospitals and Pharmaceutical companies that make life-saving drugs, thus impacting millions of lives. At Coimbatore the company has built a test centre at Kovai Medical College and Hospital to help the state contain the Covid-19 outbreak. Similar conversions are being undertaken by Voltas at KEM Hospital, Mumbai and Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, which are some of the facilities across the country being upgraded to strengthen India’s fight against the pandemic.
Q: What are the key emerging CSR opportunities and needs in the COVID scenario?
A: Initially, the immediate need was the provision of everyday resources for the daily wage earners who were the most impacted due to the lockdown. However, skilling and training of the youth will play a crucial role going forward due to its sustainability factor.
Q: What is the budget outlay for your CSR activities in the financial year 2020-21?
A: The budget outlay for Voltas for the FY 2020-21 is Rs. 1083 Lakh.
Q: How your company’s focus area for CSR has evolved over the last 4-5 years?
A: In the past few years, there has been a conscious paradigm shift from charity-based support to strategic intervention. While it is easy for companies to merely donate money to charity, businesses need to adopt a more engaging approach that has a deeper impact on the society. With this notion, we have been focusing on various skilling initiatives for boosting the employment rate of our country.
Based on the community needs assessment exercised which was conducted in 2014-15, Voltas supported initiatives for quality Education. There were several quality Education initiatives carried out across Mumbai and Thane in last five years. The long-term projects essentially focused on teachers’ training, Reading habits among children through library projects and English Language development in vernacular Zilla Parishad schools. The company is able to reach out to over 13500 students from marginalized sections and 2089 teachers through these projects.
Q: Tell us more about your CSR livelihood programmes.
A: With sustainability at the core, and with quality over quantity approach, between the years 2008 - 2018, Voltas has put in place numerous CSR programs, under the aegis of Nation Building, Sustainable livelihood and Community Development. As a result of these programs, Voltas has formally trained and certified over 2500 refrigeration and AC technicians from unorganized sector under Recognition of Prior Learning in 2019. Voltas has also built 31 Skill training centres in partnership with reputed organizations across 14 States reaching out to over 12000 Youth from marginalized section of the society.
In line with Tata’s Affirmative Action (AA) program, Voltas has also been conscious of reaching out to the most marginalised and vulnerable sections of the society, who are often from SC/ST communities. As part of this, Voltas has partnered Pratham Skill Training Centre at Panvel.
It is an exclusive initiative for Affirmative Action (inclusion of SC/ST communities) which offers residential training course in Plumbing and Electrical trades. These courses were shortlisted considering their potential employment and assured gainful employment opportunities. The Panvel centre trains over 55% students from AA Category and the placement ratio of AA students for the centre is over 80%.
Q: The CSR has fundamentally changed after the CSR was made mandatory by Companies Act 2013. It has been seven years since then. What are your thoughts on CSR laws in India?
A: India was the first country in the world to introduce the CSR law and it was a crucial step in bringing the topic from fringes to the boardrooms. While some organizations are doing exceptionally well in this space, there is room for a lot more improvement as most companies still have a check-box approach to CSR.
Q: What can be the changes in the current CSR law/provisions that can help corporates in being more productive and effective in implementation of their CSR activities?
A: While the current CSR law is making companies re-evaluate their resources for the well-being of the society, CSR is more than just charitable giving. We need stronger laws that encourage organisations to take accountability for improvement of the communities they operate in.
Q: What is the CSR outlook for your company for the next 2-3 years?
A: With the society and economy needing the support of private sector more than ever before, we shall continue to expand our skilling initiatives. Hence, we will set aside 2% of our profits for the same annually
We are also planning to create a pool of 45,000 well-trained technicians by 2025 through skill development in the technical and non-technical streams. We aim to equip aspirational India with much-needed industry expertise to generate employment opportunities and bring about a positive change in the society. The Company recognises the need to give special attention to girls/women skilling and hence would be making an extra effort to engage with them.
Q: What are your suggestions and message to your corporate colleagues on building a strong CSR environment in the country?
A: As businesses navigate through unprecedented difficulties during this global pandemic, it is important for companies to show solidarity. From a long-term perspective as well, it is important that organisations move beyond superficial donations and take accountability to empower their communities. The pandemic has indeed given us a lot of insight with respect to sustainable development. It has highlighted the fact that CSR efforts need to be need-based, strategic, inclusive and building sustainability at large.
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