Industrialists, bankers lay stress on CSR

AHMEDABAD: Bankers and industrialists have emphasised the need for enhancing corporate social responsibility (CSR) to help better human development indicators and ensure that benefits of globalisation and rapid economic growth percolates down to the grassroot levels.

The views were expressed the awardees of the Rotary Award for “Corporate Excellence” for outstanding achievements. IIM director Bakul Dholakia presented the awards to TC Venkat Subramanian, CMD, EXIM Bank; UK Sinha, chairman, UTI AMC; MV Nair, CMD, Union Bank of India, Keki Mistry, MD, HDFC; Arun Mehta, vice chairman and MD, Varun Shipping Company; and Kaushal Mehta, CEO, Motif.

Mr Sinha said that his firm expressed concern at the “pitiable” condition of majority of oldaged unorganised workers who are not covered under any pension scheme. “At present, only 12% of workers in organised sector of the total work force in India are getting formal pension,” he said.

Sinha said that the UTI has planned to cover about 10 lakh workers in the unorganised sector under a pension scheme in the next 18 months. He said that UTI had recently taken a path breaking initiative to launch a scheme to provide pension to workers in the unorganised sector.

Under this scheme poor women including vegetable vendors, cart pullers and scavengers were covered, he added. Presiding over the award function, Dholakia said that despite speedy economic development, strong fundamentals and the bullish trend in the stock market, the human development indicators poverty, illiteracy and infant mortality in the country continues to cut a sorry figure.

“To change this situation, the time has come for the corporate sector to play greater role in social upliftment,” he said.