The country’s largest passenger car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) spent ₹89.45 crore in 2016-17 on CSR initiatives, 140 per cent more than 2014-15 and 14 per cent more than 2015-16, For 2107-18, it has earmarked a budget of ₹140 crore for Corporate Social Responsibility activities.

The company said it has created a multiplier effect through the CSR initiatives and put major thrust on improving the quality of beneficiaries’ life through scalable, replicable and sustainable solutions.

MSIL also said it would step up its ‘Road Safety’ initiatives and explore innovative technology in the area of traffic management and control.

“Through CSR projects, we aim to create a positive impact. In the adopted villages, over 90 per cent of the individual household toilets constructed are used regularly,” Ranjit Singh, General Manager, CSR at Maruti Suzuki, told BusinessLine .

He said the number of works and beneficiaries are growing every year in areas of its focus such as education, skills, road safety and healthcare.

“There is an increase in the pass percentage of students in the supported schools. Youth are benefiting and enhancing their skill level from the adopted workshops,” Singh said.

He said better flow of traffic, reduction in congestion and road accidents, and increased adherence to traffic rules was observed in Gurugram city, adopted as part of the road safety project.

Singh said 2.95 lakh people (34 per cent more than the previous year) were trained in safe driving last year, 40 Maruti Driving Training Schools were added making it 400 across 190 cities, and a new technology ARITRA (camera-based image processing technology) was introduced to train drivers at three Institute of Driving and Traffic Research.

This helped commercial drivers improve their efficiency, the company said. The company has also doubled recruitment of ITI students across dealer service network to 2,205 students, who were also placed last year as against 1,100 students in 2015-16.

It has upgraded 25 ITIs in the last three years under the skill development programme, and increased the beneficiary base to 6,400 students a year.

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