India’s leading lifestyle and fashion conglomerate, Arvind Limited, clinched Asia’s Best First Time Sustainability Report award at the recently concluded 2016 Asia Sustainability Reporting Awards (ASRA) in Singapore. Arvind was also declared joint winner in the Asia’s Best Materiality Reporting category where it shared the award with Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation.
Commenting on the award, the chairman of Arvind Limited, Mr. Sanjay Lalbhai said, “It gives us great pride to win Asia’s Best First Time Sustainability Report, 2016 at the Asia Sustainability Reporting Awards (ASRA), 2016 and it reiterates our commitment towards sustainability. Sustainable practices have been a key-focus area for Arvind for quite some time now and we continue to ensure that sustainability remains a top priority.”
An impressive 68 companies from 14 countries made it to the final round of the 2016 Asia Sustainability Reporting Awards. The finalists were shortlisted by the members of an independent judging panel. The event was hosted by the British High Commissioner in Singapore H.E. Mr. Scott Wightman while the Swedish Ambassador in Singapore H.E. Mr. Håkan Jevrell was present as the Special Guest.
Mr. Rajesh Chhabara, Managing Director at CSRWorks International and the creator of the Awards, said: “Sustainability reporting has become a key indicator to assess a company’s long term success. Arvind’s win at ASRA 2016 reflects the company’s leadership in sustainability reporting and a commitment to long term value creation for all stakeholders.”
Hosted in Singapore, the Asia Sustainability Reporting Awards (ASRA) are the highest recognition for sustainability reporting in the region. To encourage more Asian companies to embrace sustainability reporting, CSRWorks International, a Singapore-based sustainability firm, has created the Asia Sustainability Reporting Awards. The awards are CSR Works International’s not-for-profit initiative and are part of its own corporate responsibility programme.
A spokesperson from the ASRA Secretariat said: “ASRA winners are decided by an independent judging panel following stringent criteria. The judging process involves multiple rounds of screening and evaluations to identify the very best in each category. Finally, a comprehensive due diligence is carried out to assess finalists’ reputation among stakeholders and the findings are considered to determine the winners.”
“Sustainability reporting is crucial to attract Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) funds which invest only in responsibly-run businesses” said Mr. Chhabara. He added that the assets under management by global SRI funds have grown to more than $21 trillion but less than 0.6 per cent of this is invested in Asia. A key reason for low SRI investment in the region may be attributed to the fact that very few Asian companies have adopted sustainability reporting.
It may be noted that several stock exchanges in the region have legislated sustainability reporting for listed companies recently, mainly to meet investors’ expectations for non-financial disclosure. In this context, ASRA winners are setting the leadership example which hopefully will inspire more companies to embrace sustainability reporting.
The event was attended by the finalists of ASRA 2016, and dignitaries from diverse fields including business, non-profit, embassies, trade associations, advocacy organisations and academics.
The winners received a specially designed plaque framed with recycled wood. The winner of the top honours, Asia’s Sustainability Report of the Year, received an exclusive golden plaque. All finalists received a merit certificate printed on FSC certified paper sourced from sustainable forests. In addition, the winners and the finalists will be authorised to use the privileged Asia Sustainability Reporting Awards Icons for branding purpose.
Printed edition of Sustainability Reporting: Learn from Asia’s Best, a special publication featuring the 2015 ASRA winners, was released at the event.
Bags Top Rank Award in Energy Conservation too
Arvind Ltd., India’s leading fashion and lifestyle conglomerate, has bagged the Top Rank Award in Energy Conservation and Efficiency at the National Energy Conservation Awards 2016 organised by the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE), Ministry of Power, in New Delhi on December 14.
The Top Rank Award recognizes an industrial unit that wins the first prize for three consecutive years, and Arvind is the only textile conglomerate to reach this milestone. Competing against 43 players, Arvind clinched the first position, yet again, by displaying consistent efforts towards energy conservation at its Santej plant in Ahmedabad.
As compared to 2015-16, Arvind was able to further reduce specific consumption in thermal energy by nearly 12 per cent, besides achieving 12 per cent reduction in specific electrical energy consumption. It has also installed 1.30 MW roof-top solar power generation capacity at the Santej plant, the largest of its kind in the Indian textiles industry.
The Award was presented by Piyush Goyal, Union Minister of State, with Independent Charge for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy, to Susheel Kaul, CEO – Lifestyle Fabrics (Shirting, Khaki & Knitwear), Arvind Ltd.
On receiving the Award, Susheel Kaul said: “At Arvind, improving our plant’s energy efficiency has always been a focus, and we continue to invest in new technologies for sustained energy conservation. This Award means a lot to the team at Arvind and we appreciate the Government of India’s recognition of our plant as the most energy efficient textile unit in India for the third consecutive year”.
Commenting on the Award, Harvinder Rathee, Head Engineering – Lifestyle Fabrics (Shirting, Khaki & Knitwear), said: “We were able to achieve power and thermal savings through various innovations, new technologies and continuous monitoring, and all our efforts have paid off. We introduced various initiatives in our plant to conserve energy, such as mechanical vapor recompression for evaporation, polymeric multi-effect evaporation, efficient pumps, arctic master on cshillers, LEDs, use of renewable energy such as day-light sheets and natural exhaust and gravity ventilations in production halls.”
Arvind opts for Plumsoft HR solution to modernize HR operations
Arvind Ltd., one of the leading apparel and textile organizations in India, has chosen Plumsoft’s Worker HR solution to manage the entire life cycle of factory floor workers from Recruit to Retire. The solution will automate and streamline the process of recruitment, induction, training, employee self-service and employee separation.
“This global, personalized and collaborative information system will serve as a key lever in ensuring our agility and operational excellence,” said Krupasindhu Roul, IT Head, Arvind Ltd. “The flexibility of the platform-based solution and the ease with which we can customize and integrate it within our existing information systems are what drove us to choose Plumsoft’s HR Solution, as well as the commitment and dedication of the Plumsoft team itself. With Plumsoft HR Solution we look forward to holistic automation and foresee a seamless functioning of all our HR functions.”
Said Jay Sappidi, Founder & CEO, Plumsoft: “Arvind realizes how important its employees are to its future and decided to modernize its digital workforce’s time more efficiently and accurately while at the same time providing new ways to attract and retain its talent, improve workforce performance, increase employee engagement, and impact bottom-line results Arvind.”
Plumsoft is a leading provider of comprehensive and fully integrated stack of cloud applications and platform services. Headquartered in Hyderabad, Plumsoft offers a fresh alternative to traditional solutions.