The Hindu Business Line : CII-ITC Centre of Excellence to come up in Kolkata

ITC Ltd has announced the setting up of another CII-ITC Centre of Excellence at Salt Lake City in Kolkata by the year-end, and land for this has been provided by the West Bengal Government.

Revealing this at the CII Partnership Summit 2006, Mr Y.C. Deveshwar, Chairman of ITC and President of CII, said the centre would be directed to development of leadership and support services for industries located in the eastern region of the country.

He said the Centre of Excellence would aim to recognise excellence in the "Triple Bottom Line" (economic, ecological and social) performance of corporates by instituting sustainability awards to recognise exemplary TBL performance, developing sectoral sustainability indices and establishing sectoral sustainability best practices, organising the first CEO conclave to bring sustainability to centre stage and creating on-going collaborative partnerships with national and global sustainability organisations.

According to the CII President, the centre will make available the services of expert resources to advise the Indian industry on adopting sustainability best practices.

Among the activities envisaged are the annual awards programme, workshops for SMEs to raise awareness and encourage adoption of TBL practices.

Stressing on CII's larger theme of `Sustainable Competitiveness" through optimum utilisation of natural resources, Mr Deveshwar said it captured "the essence of our developmental challenge and enables the alignment of the organisation and its activities".