How the CSR canvas changed during your 12-year long journey with Magma?
I have been with Magma for little more than 14 years now. It has been an exciting journey. I have enjoyed every bit of this journey. I joined in 2004 as the Head of Corpcomm and we started CSR in 2005 with a few activities including Painter’s Workshop which we were holding in 8 cities. A leading Painter of the city was mentoring young amateur painters in each of the cities and from the list of some 100 plus painters who participated in these workshops held in Kolkata, Pune, Chandigarh, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Nagpur, Cochin and Raipur, we would find few extremely talented ones and offer them scholarship to pursue their dream. In Kolkata, Mr Wasim Kapoor was our mentor. We held no less than 55-60 such workshops and nearly 1000 budding artists participated, many of whom are acclaimed artistes now.
We held several other programmes including health camps, eye camps, AID Awareness camps etc at various parts of the country, so CSR was very much part of my assignment from the word go.
CSR allowed me to be more creative, yet touch the lives of people in need. It was always like a fresh breath of air. The fact that we could make a difference to some lives, albeit small, was humbling.
According to Prime Database,Indian companies spent Rs 9,309crore on CSR projects in 2015-16, which was Rs 163 crore more than the amount required by law, and Rs 703 crore more than the previous year problem is that reported expenditure on CSR projects is not a good metric of societal welfare. These numbers overstate the effect of the law. It is not clear whether firms have really increased their CSR spending after the law compared to what they were spending voluntarily before the law, because CSR spending was not well reported historically. What’s your take?
A: I feel the companies were always spending a good deal on CSR, but since it was not mandatory, it was not getting reported. Most of the industrial towns say Rourkela, Jamshedpur, Bhilai, Vizag etc are good examples of companies spending for social good, in many cases much more than the stipulated 2%. The CSR rules of the Govt only made things more structured. I have personally visited a few projects by large corporates and found the quality of work and the expanse to be amazingly good. Companies were always investing in social good, the rules have made us report it in a formal way. That’s the only major difference.
Research revealed that the spending has not gone to democratically determined priorities. Of the nine different schedules prescribed by The Companies Act, two schedules: combating various diseases and promotion of education accounted for 44% of the total CSR expenditure. How do you think companies can create an even ground?
We live in an India of the 21st Century. We live in a country of 134 crore people with a median age of 27 years. It’s a young country with boundless energy, optimism and opportunity. India in 2018-19 is not worried about Roti, Kapdaa and Maakan. The Sixth largest Economy is looking to grow at an aggressive pace and our ambitions are infinite. India in 2018 needs a more fit, healthier young generation. India’s true potential can be only achieved when we are able to produce educated youth with global exposure. Education allows you clarity of thought. Education also helps you dream and then work in a smarter way to achieve the same. In the words of Gurudev Rabindranath “where the mind is without fear and the head is held high”– this India needs more and more investment in education and health. I feel the corporates realize that and that’s the need of the hour too. Incidentally, Magma has taken Education, Health and Environment as the three pillars of CSR and rightly so. Over 80% of our CSR spend is in these areas and we are proud of the work we are doing.
Even demographic disparity in CSR investment is witnessed over the years. States like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh bagged the maximum and on the other hand, northeastern states stayed at the bottom. Do you think the government should address this issue and stress more on building an egalitarian society?
I know the issues. There is a gapand it’s a fact that some of the more developed states get the lion share today. However, companies like Magma are an exception. Some of our larger projects have a clear focus on states like West Bengal, Odisha, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan etc. More and more companies are also realizing that you also need to run projects in these states as well as the NorthEast and I am sure, the situation will change quickly. We need a good number of quality NGOs in smaller states and also quality implementation partners. If you are able to offer quality projects to the corporates in these states, I don’t see why they will not be taken up.
How Is Magma creating the right vibe in this evolving CSR domain? What are the sectors the company is focusing presently?
We have taken three areas under our CSR programme. Education, Health and Environment. We have a few large projects in these areas like the Magma Highway Heroes where we offer quality training to the truck drivers on road safety, better driving skills as well as vehicle maintenance skills. This not only increases their employability, it also provides them with extra earning opportunities. In our 250 camps all over India, We have so far trained over 1.5 Lac Truck Drivers and hope to cross 2 lac by March 2019. The initiative is one of the most awarded projects in the sector and we are proud of the same.
We then have Magma M Scholar– our education programme for the meritorious students from poor families. We currently support 200 students, 29% of whom are in IITs, Medical Colleges. We are helping them pursue their dream and contributing in the making of Qualified Future Citizens. We are looking to get the next batch now and will have 300 M Scholars when in full capacity.
Our Magma M Care programmes, we offer healthcare benefits to the rural poor. Under this scheme, we run health camps in 7 states and thus far has offered benefits to nearly a lacIndians, all of whom hail from the poor rural background.
We are very happy to also run several other smaller projects and soon will embark upon an ambitious project of creating an Urban Forest. It’s in a planning stage and we hope to start it soon.
Our projects are all aimed at providing benefits to the poor who deserve the equality of opportunity like their urban cousins. We are helping them evolve by way of handholding and carefully indulging in their well-being.
The government believes that India is going to be the supplier of skilled manpower to the world. How Is Magma contributing to building this mega factory through skill development? Please mention projects that are working towards the skill development of the underprivileged youths?
Magma’s Highway Heroes, as well as M Scholar, are two projects I have mentioned already. We are also planning on specific skills development programmes for the youth.
What kind of amendments do you think the Schedule VII of the Company Act needs to cope with the challenges that are prevalent in the present CSR ecosystem of the country?
I would not like to have any amendments immediately. Organized CSR is a recent phenomenon in India and we have a long distance to cover. So, I would recommend the corporates to continue the good work they have initiated and only when we are in a stage when we will reckon we have achieved something- the nation’s well-being, that we should get into such deliberations. We must now concentrate on delivering on the promises made.
As told to Subhajit Bhattacharya
