The company was honoured with the prestigious Golden Peacock Award for its project on integrated rural development
Grasim Industries Ltd. (Staple Fibre Division: Nagda), a flagship company of USD 48.3 billion Aditya Birla Group has been named as the winner of the prestigious Golden Peacock Award for CSR in the textile and apparel sector for the year 2019. Golden Peacock Awards, instituted by the Institute of Directors (IOD), India in 1991, are now regarded as a benchmark of corporate excellence worldwide. Grasim Industries Ltd. was awarded for its project on integrated rural development which encompasses work done in watershed management, animal husbandry, agriculture and horticulture, community health, infrastructure development and resolution of social issues.
In her address, post receiving the award, Rajashree Birla, Chairperson, Aditya Birla Centre for Community Initiatives and Rural Development, stressed on the importance of integrating CSR vision into a company’s business vision. “At the Aditya Birla Group, Kumar Mangalam, my son and group Chairman, has mandated compassionate capitalism. According to him, leadership in every sphere has to be about compassion. Even in business we cannot adopt a system of unbridled capitalism. We have to work towards a system of compassionate capitalism, which implies managing organisations in a manner that they work for everyone – employees, shareholders, the community and the ecosystem,” she said.
“Growth for growth’s sake can never be an end in itself. When we pursue the path of compassionate capitalism there is increased employee commitment and customer loyalty and even the willingness to shell out more money. Customer value is an important link that can in turn impact financial performance. And ofcourse the reputational lever that such a philosophy provides is beyond compare. In the recent past, there has been a tectonic shift in the mindsets of business houses and in the very concept of doing business. Business setups have increasingly realised that they have to earn the respect and goodwill of the society in which they operate,” she added.
“There is mindfulness among corporates about the inequities in society. There is an accent on a shared vision of development. Businesses have to earn since that provides the license to operate and this they can do only by having a purpose that resonates well with all of its stakeholders,” she concluded.
Grasim Industries has been one of the pioneers of ‘Make in India’ success stories with its first viscose staple fibre manufacturing plant in Nagda. Right from its inception in 1947, the company has been committed to giving back to society, leading to an impressive transformation of Nagda town and its surrounding villages. Over several decades, Grasim Industries has provided state-of-the-art education and health facilities at their three schools and two hospitals in Nagda.
Speaking on the occasion, Dilip Gaur, Managing Director, Grasim Industries, said: “Our aim is to uplift the level of socio-economic status in Nagda and villages in its vicinity. We are working aggressively for the cause of education, healthcare, sustainable livelihood, infrastructure development and women empowerment at the community level. The community engagement program at Nagda spans 55 villages and 25 urban slums, reaching out to over 1 lakh people.”
The jury was headed by Justice M. N. Venkatachaliah, Chairman, Institute of Directors and former Chief Justice, Supreme Court of India, and Justice Dr. Arijit Pasayat, former Judge, Supreme Court of India. The award applications are assessed at three levels by independent assessors and finally by a grand jury.