Pune is close to the nation’s financial capital and an emerging hub for business and information technology. This flourishing, culturally rich city belongs to Maharashtra, which is the highest spender for corporate social responsibility in India. Naturally, Pune has a thriving CSR culture.

In FY2022-23, Pune received the second-largest share of the amount of the total CSR funds spent in Maharashtra. The district received a total of Rs. 1053.09 Cr. from 1384 companies in the last financial year. The top three sectors of focus for CSR initiatives in the district were Health, Education and Environment, which received Rs. 439.3 Cr., Rs. 413.1 Cr., and Rs. 119.3 Cr. respectively. The top three spenders in the district were Serum Institute of India Private Limited (Rs. 125.13 Cr.), Serum Institute Life Sciences Private Limited (Rs. 103 Cr.), and Wipro Limited (Rs. 68.28 Cr.).

Top CSR Projects in Pune

The development sector is taking notice of the impact that long-term interventions are having. We show you the Best Practices of the most successful CSR projects in Pune:

CSR initiative empowering marginalized women entrepreneurs across Pune

Spherule Foundation, a pan-India non-profit organization, and SBI Payment Services Private Limited (SBI Payments), a subsidiary of State Bank of India, have joined hands to launch a CSR initiative aimed at empowering 100 women entrepreneurs from marginalized communities across Pune District. This initiative is designed to provide women with the tools, training, and support needed to establish and grow scalable and sustainable small and micro businesses. Ground-level mobilization and participant registration for this project are already in progress.

The program is designed to offer practical learning through comprehensive training on financial management, digital tools, entrepreneurship fundamentals, and business planning. Participants will also benefit from tailored financial assistance and business support to confidently launch or expand their ventures. Ongoing mentorship will be provided by field executives who will monitor progress and offer customized advice to ensure long-term stability and success.

Also, This initiative will connect women to relevant markets and facilitate access to government schemes, enabling them to explore broader opportunities. To simplify essential processes, the program offers assistance in securing business licenses, e-Shram cards, ABHA cards, and banking tools such as Aadhaar and PAN cards.

Inauguration of Digital Smartboard at Zilla Parishad Primary School

Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB) has announced the inauguration of a state-of-the-art Digital Classroom at Zilla Parishad Primary School (ZPPS), Nirgudsar, Ambegaon, Pune. The initiative was inaugurated by Amol Ramsing Kolhe, Member of Parliament, Shirur.

This initiative is part of HCCB’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program, which is focused on enhancing the educational experience for students in Maharashtra. The newly installed smart boards aim to foster an interactive, engaging, and dynamic learning environment by integrating technology into the classroom. The digital smart boards will be an essential tool in modernising the classroom experience, enabling teachers to offer more interactive lessons and enhancing students’ ability to grasp complex concepts through visual and digital aids.

Moreover, HCCB is initiating a digital smartboard installation at Ane village in Junnar block, Pune district. A digital smartboard and RO filter are also being installed at Jambhori village, Ambegaon block, Pune district. Additionally, an RO filter installation is planned at Gunjalwadi village, Junnar block, Pune district.

CSR for road safety in Pune

As part of its road safety initiative, Dana India has installed 30 high-mast solar streetlights at Alandi Phata Chowk in Chakan. This new lighting infrastructure enhances visibility, significantly reducing the risk of accidents for approximately 3,600 villagers and travelers. The company has also implemented road safety signage and installed metal barricades in Chakan’s industrial area, aiming to regulate traffic and protect pedestrians. These measures are expected to benefit approximately 2.5 lakh commuters daily and contribute to Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities and Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals.

Additionally, road divider railings were installed at critical points, such as Endurance Chowk, improving road visibility and safety for over 3 lakh people. This initiative supports Goal 3: Good Health and Well-being, Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy, Goal 15: Life on Land, and Goal 17: Partnerships for the Goals. Dana India also upgraded street lighting in key locations across the Chakan Industrial Area and Endurance Chowk, further improving nighttime safety for an estimated 3 lakh individuals. These efforts align with Goal 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities and Goal 15: Life on Land.

JJWEP by Sterlite Technologies Limited

JJWEP, or Jeewan Jyoti Women Empowerment Programme, was set up in 2014 at Ambavane, Taluka Velhe. Although just 50 km from Pune, this region was largely underdeveloped and had a patriarchal society. Women thus had no freedom to voice their concerns, and the literacy rate among them was extremely low. The programme aimed at addressing these issues by not just empowering rural women with equal learning opportunities and professional training courses in areas such as nursing, tailoring, beauty culture and computers, among others; but also ensuring their holistic development by making them self-sufficient, feel respected in their families and have a part in the decision making process.

Jeewan Jyoti by STL also endeavours to reach out to women of all age groups through various off-campus programmes on soft skills, health and financial literacy. To date, women from more than 100 villages across Bhor, Velhe and Haveli talukas in Pune have been vocationally trained. Women who have passed out from the institute now earn an additional income of Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 12,000 per month. Some of the women have even started their own businesses using the skills learned at the institute, becoming entrepreneurs in the true sense.

Life Skills Programme by Forbes-Marshall

This women empowerment programme aims to provide life skills to teenage girls and improve mother-child wellbeing among women. Baseline data of the area showed that 45% of women got married before 18 years of age, 67% reported antenatal morbidity and only 14% of young married women used family-planning methods. Among adolescent girls, only 4% of girls displayed decision-making skills and 16% unmarried girls dropped out of formal schooling.

The CSR programme is implemented in three parts with a different target population. The first part is directed towards the empowerment of unmarried adolescent girls through life skill education, improve their cognitive and practical skills and increase their self-esteem and self-efficacy. The programme is conducted through ASHA workers and community peer educators under the Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram, where counselling sessions are also provided.

The second part of the CSR programme is focused on the protection of young married women from adverse consequences of early marriage through increased information and access to sexual and reproductive health (SRH), utilisation of maternity services during pregnancy, and an increase in institutional deliveries and family-planning methods for spacing between children. ASHA workers facilitate SRH services for married girls. They provide inter-personal communication (IPC) and counselling for married adolescent girls, their spouses and parents at the household level and implement the behaviour change communication (BCC) component of the project.

The third part focuses on attitudinal change among young men to reduce domestic violence and gender inequality. The project is being implemented by the staff of the Institute of Health Management Pachod (IHMP) by providing boys and young men with education on life skills and engaging in group and individual counselling sessions.

The programme has led to an increase in years of formal schooling of unmarried adolescent girls, with improved adaptive skills and self-esteem. There has also been a decrease in the instances of early marriages. Amongst young married women, there is an increase in the number of people accessing antenatal, post-natal and family planning services. The rate of maternal morbidity has reduced, and a 10% increase in the treatment of maternal complications compared to the baseline was recorded in just one year of programme implementation.

Biodiversity Project by Mercedes-Benz

The CSR project by luxury car marker Mercedes-Benz aims to address habitat degradation at the fringes of Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary, which is a part of the Western Ghats of India. Large scale human interventions such as slash and burn farming practice, developmental activities such as roads, flat-land agriculture and illegal tree felling for the commercial purpose have resulted in a loss of tree cover at a substantial level. Due to the loss of tree cover, there has been a large-scale loosening of soil rendering, and the area is prone to landslides and natural disasters.

In collaboration with Shashwat Trust, a Pune-based NGO, the project’s interventions address the issue in a phase-wise and sustainable manner through community participation covering eight villages. It aims at strengthening the conservation of the natural resources in the area by involving local villagers and providing alternative livelihood to the community and ensuring the sustainability of plantations through developing a sense of ownership in the communities. Village-level meetings were conducted to sensitise the community and create awareness.

With the help of SHGs in villages, village-level nurseries of local and native plants were also developed. These nurseries were maintained by the communities along with the village youth, who were then provided with training on nursery techniques. The plantation process was initiated by involving villagers and giving them additional income opportunity. The project includes four families who are growing native plant nurseries near their houses and are involved full-time in their maintenance.

Model Village by Scitech Park

Business incubator Scitech Park in Pune has adopted Panavadi village to transform it into a truly sustainable model smart village, and is minutely planning the overall upliftment of the entire ecosystem including wildlife-soil-water-forest, health-hygiene-sanitation, as well as nutrition.

Scitech Park CSR aims to make the whole of Panavadi an organic village. Agro and adventure tourism (hydro tourism, trekking, mountaineering, rappelling, bird watching, mountain biking and providing home stays are part of the CSR strategy. Cooking gas and electricity are among the first steps in making Panavadi a grid-independent and energy sufficient village.

Empowering Divyang Women by Gits Food

The CSR programme aims to empower and improve the quality of life of differently abled women in Pune. Persons with disabilities (PWDs) face a lot of discrimination and marginalisation. The situation is worse for women PWDs, who are seen as liabilities and hence are not treated with respect as their needs are addressed based on the convenience of their family members. Gits Food partnered with the NGO Helplife to help provide assistance to divyang women.

The CSR project provides accommodation, food and clothing to differently-abled women and girls from low-economic communities. The recipients can continue their education and also undergo skill training in addition to computer and spoken English classes. The women and girls stay for a duration of two-three years, during which they are also provided with counselling sessions along with their parents, and a regular support system throughout the training. After completion of skill training, the beneficiaries are also offered placement support or help to start their own enterprise to make a living. Community-based support was provided to finance livelihood generation activities.

About 70% of the divyang women are successfully employed with an average income of Rs. 12,000 per month, and around 60% of the beneficiaries who received community-based support are successfully running their micro-enterprises. It is also pertinent to mention that almost 70% of the total recipients are financially independent and 50% of them are supporting their parents and family. This has led to an immense change in the women and girls’ self-confidence.

Fiserv’s Hostel Facility for Girls with Visual Disabilities

Fiserv has partnered with the National Federation of the Blind Maharashtra (NFBM) to inaugurate a new hostel facility at the NFBM Jagriti School for Blind Girls in Pune. This facility will provide girls with visual disabilities across a wide age bracket with free lodging, boarding, and educational support, fostering an environment designed for their holistic development.

With an investment of nearly ₹2 crores, Fiserv’s support is aimed at empowering more than 120 underserved girls who have varying degrees of visual disabilities. The initiative goes beyond just providing residential assistance and includes scholarships, educational resources, and infrastructure development. A key aspect of the partnership is the establishment of a Braille Publishing Centre, which is set to benefit approximately 7,000 visually impaired students across Maharashtra. This center will enhance access to learning materials for students, ensuring they have the tools they need to succeed.

During the inauguration ceremony, Vishal Pratapwant, Chief Operating Officer and Senior Vice President, Global Services, Fiserv, said, “At Fiserv, we are dedicated to fostering inclusivity and equity both in our workplace and the broader community. Through our global Corporate Social Responsibility program, we partner with communities to unlock their full potential. Our initiative with the NFBM Jagriti School is a unique one, operating at the intersection of education and social inclusion. We are committed to providing girls with visual disabilities an equitable opportunity for holistic development and self-reliance.”

The new hostel facility is part of a larger commitment by Fiserv to create lasting social impact through initiatives that focus on education. Programs such as STEM Laboratories, Fiserv Scholarships and Residential Support to homeless girls compliment the overall investment towards education. Fiserv Corporate Social Responsibility programming proactively empowers people, advances communities, champions responsible business practices, and invests in sustainable systems to generate positive outcomes.