Kanoria Chemicals & Industries Ltd.
Sales (2007-2008) = 500 crores (rounded off)
Net profit after tax = 30 crores (rounded off)
CSR Budget: Not available
Karmayog 2008 CSR Rating: 3/5
See Karmayog Comments below
CSR activities:
Separate Report on Sustainable Operations (physical copy available with us)
Ethos (of company) � see separate ethos of CSR – ahead
Kanoria Chemicals & Industries Limited (KCI), guided by its core ethos of sustainable development.
At KCI, sustainability encompasses the product mix, technology and processes that the company has adopted, financial working, marketability, human resources and above all the environment in which the company operates.
KCI has evolved and honed its strategy to excel in its business segments. This strategy engages all stakeholders in a manner that promotes efficiency and collaborative partnerships.
In its quest for becoming the leader in the country, the company is steadfastly pursuing newer technologies and expanding its backward and forward linkages in manufacturing processes. This approach has enabled the company in becoming the lowest cost manufacturer in several product categories that the company manufactures.
The company focuses on transparency in its relationships with its stakeholders. These relationships have been built over years and have evolved on the dictates of the heart rather than the mind and look beyond just conforming to statutory compliance.
As a responsible corporate citizen, KCI has developed a scientific basis for providing sustainable livelihoods to people in and around its manufacturing locations. Both KCI units at Renukoot and Ankleshwar are ISO 14001 certified and undertake extensive greening projects.
Innovation in approach is critical to the success of the company, be it technological innovations to enhance the manufacturing process, innovations in environment sustainability; innovation in the company’s community outreach programme; or innovation in managing our human resources.
Corporate Social Responsibility
KCI : Ethos of Sustainable Development
Sustainable development at Kanoria Chemicals & Industries Limited (KCI) encompasses several aspects rather than being only restricted to environment protection or growth in the company’s profitability. Not only does it lay a strong emphasis on environment sustainability, but gives due importance to the community and society.
The policies of KCI have consistently emphasised socially useful investment. These have evolved on the dictates of the heart rather than the mind. Much before the term ‘corporate social responsibility’ was coined, KCI has reaped rich dividends from protecting the environment and promoting community development programmes. As a result, the Company has developed excellent relationship with the people in and around its manufacturing locations and is perceived as a catalyst for improving their income generating abilities and overall living conditions.
Central Ethos
KCI: Initiatives in Education
KCI: Making Water Available throuhg Water Harvesting
Central Ethos of CSR:
The central ethos in KCI’s approach to socially beneficial programmes are based on six ‘E’s:
1 Evaluate
Firstly the needs of the target community are ascertained using scientific methodologies and advise from professional agencies. Based on this information, a suitable project is drawn up
2 Enter
The company then reaches out to the targeted population in the identified area of operations through representation of the designated company official. The outline of the project, costs involved for implementation, and the resultant benefits that would accrue are explained in detail.
- Engage
A partnership approach is then forged with the villagers. With initial capital being provided by KCI, the villagers also contribute to the costs, which in turn, enables their participation and ownership.
- Empower
Towards completion of the project activity, the targeted population is handed over the operations and maintenance of the project, thereby ensuring sustainability and optimum utilisation of the benefits.
- Ensure (sustenance), and
The different projects running at a given time are periodically monitored to eliminate systemic failures.
- Exit
Once the sustainability of the project has been ensured, KCI exits it and moves on to the next project.
KCI’s Renukoot facility is located in a relatively remote area and the local population around the town is predominantly tribal and often steeped in poverty and illiteracy. Being hunters-gatherers traditionally, the tribal people did not have any income generating opportunities and practically no knowledge of agricultural practices. With restricted entry into the reserve forests, these people were left without any means of subsistence and many were lured into begging and crime. The people therefore had to be sensitised into practicing subsistence agriculture and had to be provided with arable land. The hilly and rocky terrain complicated matters and without adequate water, agriculture was impossible.
KCI Initiatives in Education
In recognition of the importance of education and the limited facility that exist in the region, KCI runs the Bhavan’s Kesari Devi Kanoria Vidya Mandir, a CBSE affiliated high school within the Renukoot township, in partnership with Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan. During last year a new block was added in the school through donation by KCI and supplemented by the school’s own funds. KCI also supports the privately run Dakshinanchal Grammodaya Vidya Mandir, an intermediate school in village Babhani near Renukoot that has about 400 students.
KCI: Making Water Available through Water Harvesting
As socially responsible organisation with sustainability as one of the core values, KCI was driven to contribute to the well being of the community of people in and around Renukoot. The company has carried out several community development initiatives since its inception in the early 1960s. In the year 2000, KCI became a member of the Business & Community Foundation (BCF), a NGO promoted by the Prince of Wales Foundation of UK, with the primary objective of ensuring a scientific basis for KCI’s efforts towards sustainable development As a result of this partnership, KCI provided training to field staff and decided to target development of the area within 50 kilometres radius of the Renukoot Chemical Works to ensure hands on managerial control over the activities. The approach includes regular personal visits to 14 adopted villages and avoiding duplication of other NGO activity in the area. KCI implements projects in partnership with the beneficiaries in targeted village and after the project is up and running, moves on to the next target village.
By way of a survey conducted scientifically by KCI and BCF, the felt needs of the people were identified and it was established that the single biggest problem facing the people was non-availability of water for irrigation. Consequently a detailed project was worked out and has been under implementation since the year 2000. The programme uses a simple methodology of identifying the needs of the community in the command area and engaging a participative mode with the beneficiaries. Technical inputs from Tarun Bharat Sangh – an NGO that has done commendable work in the field of water harvesting in the state of Rajasthan, helped in creating capacity for training and advocacy.
Under this programme, ten small dams and three ponds have been constructed in collaboration with the villagers (from the villages of Dubha, Khairahi, Babhani, Jharo, Kataundhi and Chapki around Renukoot in Uttar Pradesh), who contributed 25% of the total project cost. The resulting sense of ownership and the management skills of KCI have been critical factors for the success of the project.
Over 900 acres of land has been irrigated under this project. The highlight of the benefit accruing to villagers from this project is that it allows them to grow up to three crops in a year compared to the only one that they were sometimes growing earlier. In difficult soil conditions, watershed management has also helped the villages to increase crop yields. This has significantly expanded income generation for the villagers.
After three and a half years into the programme, the transformation in the 14 villages is more than satisfactory. Because of availability of water, people are now growing three crops in a year on a land where no cropping was earlier possible. This has not only created employment generation opportunities for farmers directly and to ancillary service providers indirectly. Output from the farms has also helped in significantly reducing poverty levels and the population is now being motivated towards literacy and skill development. The response from villagers in engaging in a partnership mode is much better than expected. Many villages have observed the social transformation taking place in the 14 adopted villages and are now competing with each other for taking part in the programme.
Intensive interaction with other NGOs working in the area and cooperative approach with other businesses has helped in making delivery of services and expertise to villages considerably easier. The unique approach of KCI in watershed management has drawn wide appreciation and recognition of the local government.
Mrs. Madhuvanti Kanoria, who leads the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) activities for KCI observes:
“� It gives me a great deal of satisfaction to see our efforts starting to make a definitive positive impact on the lives of people living under harsh conditions in the undulating and hitherto barren land around Renukoot. We have developed an excellent rapport with surrounding villages. The most satisfying result has been the efforts of KCI in watershed management through building check dams and undertaking other water harvesting measures. This project has enabled considerably enhanced access to water for agriculture. Whereas only 10% of the families had some access to water earlier, measures undertaken in supervision of KCI has ensured that water is now available to over 70% of the families. The greening impact of the project has been so dramatic that villagers are now sowing up to three crops in a year where even single crops were not possible earlier�”
Source:
http://www.kanoriachem.com/corporatesocial_water.htm
http://www.kanoriachem.com/corporatesocial_education.htm
www.kanoriachem.com/corporatesocial_CentralEthos.htm
http://www.kanoriachem.com/corporatesocial.htm
http://www.kanoriachem.com/ethos.htm
www.kanoriachem.com/images/AnnualReports/2007-08/06Beyond%20Business.pdf
Karmayog Comments: Increase in CSR initiatives this year
Contact Information:
Kanoria Chemicals & Industries Limited
‘Park Plaza’
71 Park Street
Kolkata – 700 016
West Bengal
Phone no. : 33-22499472, 22499473, 22499474
Fax : 33-22499466
E-mail : investor@kanoriachem.com
Website : http://www.kanoriachem.com/
Industry Sector: Chlor-Alkali
Products / Services: Chemicals manufacture (Chloro Chemicals, Alco Chemicals, Agro Chemicals, Water Treatment Chemicals, Industrial Gases)
Other locations of factories / offices: New Delhi
Plants: (Renukhoot) Uttar Pradesh, (Ankleshwar) Gujarat
Previous year’s CSR activities & rating: https://www.karmayog.org/csr500companies/csr500companies_8298.htm