BWI: HSBC Living Business SME Awards

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)
Wednesday, April 21, 2010 09:15 PM IST (03:45 PM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest, Economy, Entertainment, Environment, Politics, Social issues, Sports; Business: Advertising, PR & marketing, Banking & financial services, Business services, Commodities & materials, Energy companies, Information technology, Major diversified industrial groups; Technology
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HSBC Living Business SME Awards
TERI and HSBC Recognize CSR Efforts in SME Sector

New Delhi, Delhi, India, Wednesday, April 21, 2010 -- (Business Wire India) -- The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), along with HSBC, today announced the HSBC Living Business SME Awards, recognizing the social commitment of Small and Medium Enterprises. This year, 42 nominations were received for the awards, and the winners are:

1st Prize: Marco Food Products for building a school imparting free education to underprivileged children of Ratnagiri district.

2nd Prize: Impetus Infotech (I) Pvt. Ltd., for its community initiatives like English-speaking workshops, blood donation camps, donation of study and relief materials, sponsoring education of orphans, etc.

Special Prize: Sport Goods Foundation of India for working towards the prevention and rehabilitation of child labour in the sporting goods industry. It has also set up transitional schools for children, and has created 52 SHGs covering 1000 families.

Present at the awards ceremony were Mr Salman Khurshid, Hon'ble Minister of State (I/C) for Corporate Affairs & Minority Affairs, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Dr RK Pachauri, Director- General TERI and President TERI-BCSD India, and Ms Malini Thadani, Head of Group Communication and Corporate Sustainability, HSBC India.

Lauding TERI BCSD India and HSBC India's efforts towards the SME sector, Chief Guest Mr. Salman Khurshid said and urged to the SME sector to grow innovatively to compete in the fast growing Indian economy. "The SME sector is an integral part of the Indian economy, which touches our grassroots level directly; hence it is imperative for them to grow innovatively. With modern marketing structures and guidance from organization like TERI and financial institutes like HSBC, SME sector can contribute to the economy more actively and can expand their business models." He added that time has come for us to incentivise CSR efforts so that SME's and MSME's get a boost. Mr Khurshid also added that one day it may be possible that SME may further exchange their CSR activities for carbon credits; an expansion to their roles and responsibility towards economy."

Speaking on the relevance of CSR in the SME sector on The World Creativity and Innovation Day as well as on the eve of Earth Day, Dr RK Pachauri, said, "We felt that this day would be appropriate for acknowledging and appreciating innovative CSR initiatives by SMEs. A vibrant SME sector is the backbone of any economy. TERI has been developing innovative solutions to energy, environment and social issues for energy-intensive small scale industrial sectors, whereby touching the lives of at least 25,000 workers in about 500 locations across the country. We as the HSBC Living Business knowledge and activation partner are happy to recognize SME's who have made outstanding contribution to the environment and community in India to sustain long-term business success. TERI will always be proud to partner and implement comprehensive programs to mainstream good social and environmental practices."

Ms Malini Thadani Head of Group Communication and Corporate Sustainability, HSBC India emphasized "SMEs in India are the engine of the country's economic growth and the backbone of Indian industry. These awards are meant to recognise the increasing contribution being made by this sector towards the social and environmental needs of our country. We hope to receive many more nominations in the coming years as more SMEs develop their CSR practices. Initiatives such as the HSBC Living Business SME Awards will help to raise the awareness of SMEs and the business case for CSR"

Small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) in India constitute more than 90% of the total economy and are in a phase of transition. The SME sector encourages the innovative spirit and entrepreneurship in the economy that helps in laying the foundation for rapid industrial development. It also serves the vital objectives of employment generation and balanced regional development. Today, the concept of CSR has gone beyond the traditional philanthropic approach and looks into strategic cooperation. However, the SME sector is yet to consider CSR as a tool for business enhancement. This is mainly because they are forced to prioritize short-term survival over longer-term strategic measures, and they often have few managerial and financial resources to invest in such measures.

Notes to Editors:

Eligibility for the Awards

Companies with an annual turnover of less than Rs 100 crore who have:
-- Created programmes for generating employment opportunity through learning
-- Developed cost-effective and efficient composting technology for urban organic waste.
-- Promoted environment-friendly recycling through awareness programmes.
-- Developed renewable energy products.
-- Promoted sustainable green belt activities like nursery raising, seed processing, etc.
-- Eliminated child labour through promotion of education, sensitization of their families, etc.
-- Promoted use of environment-friendly paints.
-- Imparted free education / provided knowledge and exposure to students from weaker sections.

Winner Quotes

1. Receiving this appreciation from TERI - HSBC is a reaffirmation of our belief in out ability to make a difference. One doesn't always need a size and scale to make significant contribution to the society, rather all it takes is a strong will and determination, and a passion to make things happen. At Impetus, we believe in our ability to make a difference to our clients, our employees and our eco-system at large. - Ms Pooja Sehgal, Director Marketing and communications Impetus Infotech (I) Pvt. Ltd

2. My industry colleagues believed that we are humane first and then industrialists and when we develop human relations with our human resources we don't have to look back. We looked at CSR beyond the traditional approach and with the TERI, HSBC India and the Federation of Indian Micro and Small & Medium Enterprises, we took the cause of eliminating child labour through the promotion of education, whereby ensuring that our human resources belive in us and the system." - Mr. Satish Wasan, Sports Good Foundation of India.

3. The driving force behind taking up the initiative was that many children were deprived of education and other basic facilities since schooling had become expensive and hence, beyond the reach of a common student for the want of money. Therefore, in order to improve the living standards in the society by means of education, we took up the initiative. We are happy that TERI and HSBC gave us innovative and technical know-hows and this initiative has set an example for other corporates in the surrounding area to initiate such programs at their level too. Mr. Zubair Salauddin Thakur, CEO Marco Food Products.

About TERI-BCSD India:

TERI (The Energy and Resources Institute) is a multi-disciplinary institute that has a strong sustainability orientation. TERI organizes sponsors, establishes and conducts scientific research intended to promote the material and industrial welfare of India. It set up TERI-BCSD (Business Council for Sustainable Development) India, currently a network of 103 motivated and socially conscious corporates. The TERI-BCSD India is the regional arm of the WBCSD (World Business Council for Sustainable Development), Geneva. Subject experts and executives from TERI-BCSD India member companies work with TERI researchers to identify, conceptualize, and implement thematic projects in the areas of energy, water, climate change, health care, and sustainable livelihoods. Workshops, training programmes, seminars, events, and publications are the other outreach activities of the business network. For more information, please visit www.teriin.org and www.teriin.org/bcsd

TERI has been developing innovative solutions to energy, environment, and social issues for energy-intensive small-scale industrial sectors, whereby it has touched the lives of at least 25 000 workers in about 500 locations across the country. TERI as the Business Knowledge and activation partner for the HSBC Living Business SME Awards is implementing a comprehensive programme to mainstream good social and environmental practices among SMEs in India.

The prime objective of this initiative was:

· To identify best practices and innovations in the Indian corporate sector in fulfilling their responsibilities towards the society they impact.

Through this process, TERI lays stress on evaluating corporate policies to note how CSR has been 'built in' to the overall business strategy.

About HSBC India:

The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation Limited in India offers a full range of banking and financial services to over 2 million customers through its 50 branches and 150 ATMs across 29 cities.

HSBC is one of India's leading financial services groups, with over 35,000 employees in its banking, investment banking and capital markets, asset management, insurance broking, insurance, software development and global resourcing operations in the country. It is a leading custodian in India. More than 5% of India's exports and imports pass through HSBC India's banking channels. The asset management business in India is one of the leading players in the industry. The Bank is at the forefront in arranging deals for Indian companies investing overseas and foreign investments into the country. It has a fully enabled and established insurance advisory of international standards. It is one of the leading players in domestic and export factoring, and one of the leading banks for an increasing number of SMEs. With its extensive reach across Asia, the Americas and Europe, HSBC has the capacity to offer complete banking and financial solutions to India's burgeoning economy. In 2008, it acquired a majority stake in IL&FS Investsmart (now renamed HSBC InvestDirect) that has enabled it to offer retail brokerage services to its customer across a wider geography.

HSBC's network of branches is located at Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Chennai, Coimbatore, Gurgaon, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kochi, Kolkata, Ludhiana, Lucknow, Mumbai, Mysore, Nagpur, Noida, New Delhi, Nasik, Patna, Pune, Raipur, Surat, Trivandrum, Thane, Vadodara and Visakhapatnam.

HSBC and Sustainability

HSBC works in the community in India in the areas of financial inclusion, environment and sustainability. Our financial inclusion initiatives support the education of children from underprivileged communities, life skills training for disadvantaged youth and financial literacy and entrepreneurship capacity building for rural women in marginalised communities. HSBC's environmental initiatives support water harvesting, habitat and biodiversity conservation, sustainable livelihoods and climate change awareness.

HSBC globally has launched a number of climate change initiatives such as the HSBC Climate Partnership, HSBC Climate Confidence Monitor, HSBC Global Environment Efficiency Programme, HSBC Global Climate Change Benchmark Index and HSBC Climate Change Fund.

The HSBC Climate Partnership was launched in India in January 2008 and supports Earthwatch, WWF, The Climate Group and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute to combat the impact of climate change on forests, freshwater, cities and people. HSBC India also supports water harvesting and drought proofing projects as an essential measure to reduce climate stress on agriculture. HSBC India's Young Rangers Programme helps children understand the need to protect the environment and take small steps to combat climate change in their schools and homes. In 2008, HSBC launched Earth Sciences Forum in India, the first ever Public Private Partnership between HSBC and the Ministry of Science and Technology and Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India to find solutions to climate change. The forum seeks to provide solutions through adaptation and mitigation strategies, recommending policy changes, and showcasing innovative research and industry best practices.

HSBC also views volunteering as a key driver to employee engagement and an important contribution to the community. In 2009 alone, HSBC in India clocked 45700 hours of volunteering by employees across India.

Globally, HSBC was the most highly rated bank for climate change governance by US investor coalition, Ceres and Number 3 in Fortune 100 AccountAbility Rating in 2008. It also received the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Climate Protection Award 2007 and Environmental Excellence Award 2007 by Asian Forum on CSR.HSBC is a member of the Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index 2007, Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes - World Index Market 2007 and FTSE4Good Environmental Leaders Europe 40 Index 2006. HSBC India has been recognised for its work in corporate sustainability and has received commendation at the Business World -FICCI SEDF CSR Award 2007 and nomination for the Economic Times Corporate Citizen Award 2007. Naina Lal Kidwai, Group General Manager and Country Head, HSBC India, was awarded the prestigious Green Globe Award in the business enterprise category for her commitment to environment sustainability at the Delhi Sustainable Development Summit on 5 February 2009.


CONTACT DETAILS
Mr. Rajiv Chhibber, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), +919810426698, rajivc@teri.res.in
Mr. Daylon DCruz, HSBC, +91 (22) 22681344, daylondcruz@hsbc.co.in

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