Blchangemakers

‘Youngsters are now keen on joining firms that are in tune not just with profitability but also sustainability’

Garima Singh New Delhi | Updated on March 06, 2020 Published on March 06, 2020

(From left) Venky Vembu, Associate Editor, BusinessLine ; Indrajit Belgundi, Director and General Manager, Clients Solutions Group, Dell Technologies; and Tapan Arandhara, Regional Manager (Pension and Group Schemes), North Zone, LIC   -  Bijoy Ghosh

Captains of India Inc highlight importance of business, social welfare integration

 

It was the panel discussion ‘What role can corporates play so that they can be a catalyst of social change’ that set the tone for the discourse at the third edition of the BusinessLine Changemaker Awards 2020 that took place here on Friday.

The session on ‘The Role of Corporates as Harbinger of Social Change’ was moderated by Venky Vembu, Associate Editor, Business Line, wherein he talked about the increase in the focus of the companies on the 3Ps: Approach- people, Planet and Profit.

“Earlier, Corporate Social Responsibilty (CSR) was considered bad but India was among the first countries to make CSR mandatory. LIC is a classic case where the business is totally integrated with the social welfare of the people. Our business in itself is a corporate social responsibility (CSR),” said Tapan Arandhara, Regional Manager, Pension and Group Scheme (North Zone), LIC.

Now, youngsters are increasingly looking at joining organisations which are in tune with sustainability and not just profitability, he added.

On its part, Dell has drawn up a social impact for 2030 initiatives focused on advancing sustainability, cultivating inclusion, transforming lives and upholding ethics and privacy. The initiative is likely to impact one billion people across the people.

“The aim is to execute the CSR activity well. We believe it’s our responsibility to ensure that all our progress happens around the pillars,” said Indrajit Belgundi, Senior Director, Client Solutions, Dell India.

For instance, if the aim is to go to the rural areas, it’s not only about providing education but also about ensuring sanitisation, water and cleanliness are available in schools, he added.

Belgundi went on to say that the aim is to ensure that social empowerment is done in an effective manner.

The third edition had awards under six categories: Changemaker-Financial Transformation, Changemaker-Digital Trnasformation, Changemaker-Social Transformation, Young Changemaker, Iconic Changemaker, Changemaker of the Year.

All the winners were felicitated by the Vice-President of India, M Venkaiah Naidu. The event also had a session featuring Piyush Goyal, Minister for Commerce and Industry and Railways that was moderated by Raghavan Srinivasan, Editor, BusinessLine.

The BusinessLine Changemaker Awards were supported by Nestle India, LIC, Tata Sons, Dell, Qualcomm and Pepsico.

Published on March 06, 2020

A letter from the Editor

Dear Readers,

The coronavirus crisis has changed the world completely in the last few months. All of us have been locked into our homes, economic activity has come to a near standstill. Everyone has been impacted.

Including your favourite business and financial newspaper. Our printing and distribution chains have been severely disrupted across the country, leaving readers without access to newspapers. Newspaper delivery agents have also been unable to service their customers because of multiple restrictions.

In these difficult times, we, at BusinessLine have been working continuously every day so that you are informed about all the developments – whether on the pandemic, on policy responses, or the impact on the world of business and finance. Our team has been working round the clock to keep track of developments so that you – the reader – gets accurate information and actionable insights so that you can protect your jobs, businesses, finances and investments.

We are trying our best to ensure the newspaper reaches your hands every day. We have also ensured that even if your paper is not delivered, you can access BusinessLine in the e-paper format – just as it appears in print. Our website and apps too, are updated every minute, so that you can access the information you want anywhere, anytime.

But all this comes at a heavy cost. As you are aware, the lockdowns have wiped out almost all our entire revenue stream. Sustaining our quality journalism has become extremely challenging. That we have managed so far is thanks to your support. I thank all our subscribers – print and digital – for your support.

I appeal to all or readers to help us navigate these challenging times and help sustain one of the truly independent and credible voices in the world of Indian journalism. Doing so is easy. You can help us enormously simply by subscribing to our digital or e-paper editions. We offer several affordable subscription plans for our website, which includes Portfolio, our investment advisory section that offers rich investment advice from our highly qualified, in-house Research Bureau, the only such team in the Indian newspaper industry.

A little help from you can make a huge difference to the cause of quality journalism!

Support Quality Journalism
events
media
award and honour
This article is closed for comments.
Please Email the Editor
You have read 1 out of 3 free articles for this week. For full access, please subscribe and get unlimited access to all sections.