The Shipping Companies in India contribute a significant proportion to the GDP and increase in foreign reserves. Its involvement with foreign trade allows the leaders of these companies to visit many developed and developing countries and learn about the best practices being adopted to solve various social development issues. This places them at a unique advantage in making a significant and focused effort toward nation-building and societal welfare through CSR. Let us look at three shipping companies in India that take CSR seriously.
Cochin Shipyard Limited
Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL), a Mini Ratna Cat.1 CPSE founded in 1972, has grown to become one of the country’s leading integrated shipbuilding, repair, and training services providers, as well as the most reputable commercial and defense ship and offshore structure construction and repairing facility.
The company believes that “CSR has gained traction as a possible development tool and has shown to be a game-changer in India’s development sector. A CSR strategy is an important component of a company’s competitiveness and the manifestation of its ethos and image.”
This is why the CSR interventions of CSL have become an effective vehicle that carries a positive corporate image of the organization among its internal and external stakeholders. This has also boosted the image and goodwill of the company and is also a driving force for its employees who take pride and ownership of being part of a responsible corporate organization. The employees of CSL are keen on the CSR agenda which is reflected in their active involvement in the implementation of these projects and also in their own self-motivated efforts to render support to the less privileged fellow citizens.
Cochin Shipyard Limited is particularly active in the area of corporate social responsibility, and CSR is written into the company DNA. The group is constantly supporting women, children, and privileged parts of society through a variety of programs in the fields of health, education, sanitation, non-conventional energy, and so on. CSL’s CSR initiatives are acts of giving back to people and nature, as the company operates in close proximity to people and uses natural resources. They also provide an important message about social and environmental change, as well as a constructive path forward in being a people-friendly corporate citizen. CSL expresses its support for the government of India’s development programs, such as the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan and the Skill India Mission, through its CSR initiatives.
APM Terminals Pipavav
APM Terminals Pipavav is one of the top 10 shipping companies in India. It was started by Nikhil Gandhi in 1996. The company is offering different services like logistic support, cargo handling, and pilotage/towage.
APM Terminals Pipavav is committed to the local communities around the port and actively driving social initiatives in Education, Sanitation and Health, Women Empowerment, Skill Development, and Infrastructure Development. Over the years, the port has helped to improve the livelihoods of local villagers and has been a major catalyst in the lives of the community living in and around the port.
The company has designed the Sagar Mitra Project for Shiyalbet village of Jafrabad taluka covering 830 households and an 8500 human population which is dependent on fishing for their livelihood. Fishermen/women generally used traditional techniques for fishing depending on their intuitive understanding of the sea which limited their catch as well as income. This project aims to help fishermen/ women imbibe scientific techniques for fishing, drying, and storing the catch appropriately; for longer shelf life. Related kits like Pagadiya kit, solar light, and icebox are distributed among the community. By providing early education on fisheries, we are creating awareness about careers in fisheries.
Its Pashu Uday Project is designed with a vision to double the livestock-related income of farmers in five years. The project further aims to create intensive awareness about livestock management as a career option among secondary and senior secondary students, insurance of livestock along with the capacity building of villagers for better yield and fodder development, etc.
Mazgaon Dock Shipbuilders Limited
Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Limited (MDL) is committed to undertaking various programs for integrating social and business goals in a sustainable manner to create social impact through inclusive growth activities to bring about the impact on people and society at large. Some of the key highlights of MDL CSR activities in the past include the following:
– Adoption of Kherde Gram Panchayat of Shahpur Tehsil of Thane district for the overall development under the ‘Adarsh Gram Yojana’ by installing 50 solar energy street lights, arranging solid waste management systems, clean drinking water, and providing quality education, skill development, and women empowerment to its villagers.
– Financed the renovation of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) of KEM hospital, Vaaran Mumbai, and provided modern medical equipment, beds, and ventilators to the hospital.
MDL has also set up projects in Marathwada for the drought-prone areas, opened a school for tribal girls under the ABM Samaj Prabodan Sansthan in Thane, and undertaken skill development initiatives through the National Handicap Finance and Development Corporation, Central Institute of Plastics Engineering and Technology and other industrial training institute and vocational training centers, as part of MDL CSR initiatives.
