Indian Oil Corporation, one of the seven Maharatna Companies, takes its CSR activities quite earnestly. Bibhuti Pradhan, Chief Manager (HR), CSR Cell, IOCL, Corporate Office, New Delhi, tells SUMANTHA RATHORE how CSR is engraved in the company’s belief system.
Q. What fuels the CSR drive at IOCL?
A. Indian Oil Corporation has a vision to help enrich the quality of life of the community and preserve ecological balance and heritage through a strong environment conscience. This implies that CSR is aptly ingrained in the company’s philosophy.
We generally work in areas such as health and medical care, education, clean drinking water, promotion of sports, preservation and promotion of national heritage sites. Typically, the activities are carried out in the vicinity of our installations and work stations.
We have formed Indian Oil Foundation (IOF), a non-profit Trust, to protect, preserve and promote national heritage in collaboration with the Archaeological Survey of India and the National Culture Fund, Government of India. In the first phase, we have identified six sites of national heritage importance. Of these, work for development of tourist-friendly facilities is already in progress at two locations – Konark and Khajuraho.
Q. Do you see a need for stricter CSR spending norms for both private and public companies?
A. One of the key purposes for the formation of Public Sector Units in our country was to serve society. For IOCL, I can say that effectively, our company does much more than the mandatory 2 per cent on CSR. For example, delivering essential commodities such as kerosene, diesel and petrol to far flung areas of the country, is also an activity with high social and livelihood significance. After all, through our product delivery, we touch millions of lives everyday, especially in areas where reaching out is extremely tough and may not be economically viable for most companies with profit motives. I believe, though it may not fit into the typical definition of CSR in the Indian context, this goes beyond the call of normal business duty.
I see many PSUs, and even private companies, doing a great job in CSR. The good part is that with the promulgation of the Act, more companies will fall into the ambit of CSR provisions from FY 2014-15 onwards, which means more activities and availability of more funds for CSR.
Q. What’s your opinion on the mandatory quota of 2 per cent spends on CSR activities? Do you think a forceful rule works better than urging to participate voluntarily?
A. As I said, as per the new Act, many new companies will fall within the CSR ambit and for them, 2 per cent is a good enough figure to start with. However, the need of the hour is to spend every penny responsibly and not just for the sake of it.
I believe, at the end of the day, 2 per cent is just a number or a statistic. What is required is that all companies should conduct business in a responsible manner with planet-people as key stakeholders, either through enshrined ethical principles or by diktat of law, whichever makes it workable.
Q. What needs to be done to improve the state of CSR practices adapted by the PSUs?
A. The challenges and opportunities are the same, be it PSUs or private companies. In my opinion, the biggest change that happened in the CSR domain was in April-2010, when the first DPE guidelines on CSR were issued, as per which the philosophy of CSR shifted from ‘philanthropy’ or ‘donation’ mode to ‘project’ mode. This has been the essence of the subsequent guidelines on ‘Sustainability’, ‘CSR & Sustainability’, as well as the ‘Companies Act 2013’.
The most reasonable perspective on CSR project and expenditure we need to have is that with Rs15,000 croreto Rs 18,000 crore in hand, which would be the annual CSR budget of all eligible companies put together, we cannot aim to change the fate of our society altogether. Compare this with about
Rs 1 lakh crore available annually with the Ministry of Rural development. CSR budget seems very little.
Therefore, the effort should be to spend the money ‘well’, i.e. we should select and implement such CSR projects which are self-sustainable. The litmus test of ‘self-sustainability’ of projects is that after funding is withdrawn, the project should be able to stand on its own feet. Only then can such models be auto-replicated and accepted by entrepreneurial administrators across India.
Moreover, all companies should leverage their better managerial and system-related skills to execute projects and make them ‘models of excellence’, which can be replicated.
Q. Any major CSR activity taken up by IOCL that you think was a game changing project, an initiative which made the other entities follow suit? What has been IOCL’s major contribution in the CSR sector?
A. Our largest flagship CSR project on rural health care was launched in January 2012.This is perhaps the first time in India or may be in the world that a rural petrol pump delivers a qualified doctor’s services and medicines free of cost to the poor and underprivileged rural Indians at their doorstep.
We have named this project ‘Indian Oil Sachal Swasthya Seva’. The mobile medical units, which are stationed at our rural petrol pumps called ‘Kisan Seva Kendras’, travel to nearby villages to provide free primary healthcare and free medicines to the poor and needy population. We have stationed 52 such mobile medical units at 52 Kisan Seva Kendras across three states: 27 in Telengana, 13 in Andhra Pradesh and 12 in Uttar Pradesh.
Each mobile medical unit has a four-member team comprising a qualified doctor (MBBS), a pharmacist, a driver and a community mobiliser, who acts as a link between the villagers and the mobile medical unit team. Each mobile medical unit visits 10-12 villages every week and returns to the same village once every week, i.e. each village is visited 52 times in a year, which helps in repeat and continuous health check-ups. We have implemented this project in collaboration with Wockhardt Foundation.
Every year, 52 mobile medical units treat 1.5 million patients in about 700 villages in 13 districts of the three states. So far, more than 26 lakh patients have been treated by these 52 mobile medical units in about 25 months.
Q. Do we need a new set of categories to be covered under CSR?
A. Well, on the face of it, there appears to be only 10 categories in Schedule-VII to the Companies Act, which lists the categories of CSR projects. But, if you look closely, there are more than 35 different categories of projects within this broad categorisation. Moreover, under ‘Sustainable Development’ and ‘Ecological balance’ categories, you can undertake a plethora of green projects including renewable energy, afforestation, water harvesting. The recent circular issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, which was issued on June 18, 2014, clearly says that the entries in Schedule-VII must be interpreted liberally, thereby further increasing the scope and possibility of what can be counted under CSR.
Q. Is there a need for creating awareness on CSR in PSUs so that the entire activity becomes more participatory and voluntary?
A. PSUs have been engaged in CSR activities for decades, much before the DPE guidelines & Companies Act came into force. That does not mean that awareness is not required. In fact, considering the importance of awareness development on CSR, the CSR rules allow companies to spend 5 per cent at the most, of the annual CSR budget, on activities such as training and capability building, which will foster a culture of CSR.
PSUs are typically large entities and there is a need to imbibe the philosophy of CSR and ‘responsible business’ across organisations and take it to the DNA of each employee so that each one of them becomes a CSR brand ambassador.
Bibhuti Pradhan,
Chief Manager (HR), CSR Cell, IOCL, Corporate Office, New Delhi
