You are on page 1of 5

Mastek Ltd

Study of Corporate Sustainability Responsibility (CSR) initiatives


Group Members:

Ashish Sharma
Manu Maudgal
Prashant Chaudhury

What is Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)


Globally
While there may be no single universally accepted definition of CSR, each definition
that currently exists underpins the impact that businesses have on society at large
and the societal expectations of them. Although the roots of CSR lie in philanthropic
activities (such as donations, charity, relief work, etc.) of corporations, globally, the
concept of CSR has evolved and now encompasses all related concepts such as
triple bottom line, corporate citizenship, philanthropy, strategic philanthropy, shared
value, corporate sustainability and business responsibility.
World Business Council for Sustainable Development defines CSR as the continuing
commitment by business to contribute to economic development while improving the
quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the community and
society at large.
In IndiaCSR in India has traditionally been seen as a philanthropic activity. And in keeping
with the Indian tradition, it was an activity that was performed but not deliberated. As
a result, there is limited documentation on specific activities related to this concept.
However, what was clearly evident that much of this had a national character
encapsulated within it, whether it was endowing institutions to actively participating in
Indias freedom movement, and embedded in the idea of trusteeship.
Distinction from Sustainability
CSR and sustainability are closely entwined, it can be said that CSR and
sustainability is a companys commitment to its stakeholders to conduct business in
an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable manner that is transparent
and ethical.
It is important to draw a distinction between CSR, which can be a strategic business
management concept, and charity, sponsorships or philanthropy. Even though the
latter can also make a valuable contribution to poverty reduction, and will directly
enhance the reputation of a company and strengthen its brand, the concept of CSR
clearly goes beyond that.

CSR tends to focus on what is done with profits after they are made. On the other
hand, sustainability is about factoring the social and environmental impacts of
conducting business, that is, how profits are made.
Companies Act, 2013
The Companies Act, 2013 has introduced the idea of CSR under clause 135. Schedule VII of
the Act, which lists out the CSR activities, suggests communities to be the focal point.
Provisions

Applicability
o companies with an annual turnover of 1,000 crore INR and more, or
o a net worth of 500 crore INR and more, or
o a net profit of five crore INR and more.
Requires a responsibility statement that the CSR policy, implementation and
monitoring process is in compliance with the CSR objectives, in letter and in spirit.
This has to be signed by either the CEO, or the MD or a director of the company
Requires companies to set-up a CSR committee consisting of their board members,
including at least one independent director. Schedule VII of the Act lists out a set of
activities eligible under CSR. Companies may implement these activities taking into
account the local conditions after seeking board approval.
Encourages companies to spend at least 2% of their average net profit in the
previous three years on CSR activities. Net profit is defined as the profit before tax as
per the books of accounts, excluding profits arising from branches outside India.
Surplus arising out of CSR activities will have to be reinvested into CSR initiatives,
and this will be over and above the 2% figure.
The company can implement its CSR activities through the following methods:
o Directly on its own
o Through its own non-profit foundation set- up so as to facilitate this initiative
o Through independently registered non-profit organisations that have a record
of at least three years in similar such related activities
o Collaborating or pooling their resources with other companies
Only CSR activities undertaken in India will be taken into consideration
Activities meant exclusively for employees and their families will not qualify

Benefits of CSR
CSR practices bring in benefits, some of which are as follows:

Communities provide the license to operate


Attracting and retaining employees
Communities as suppliers
Enhancing corporate reputation

Why we chose Mastek:


Most of us in the FMS classroom (and all in this group work) work in the service sector.
Hence we thought of studying CSR initiatives which can be useful in shaping our thinking
even at our service sector workplaces.
Further, Mastek represents the vast SME sector which unlike large corporates has limited
resources for CSR initiatives.
About Mastek Ltd
Mastek is an acronym for Management & Software Technology.

Founded in 1982 by first generation entrepreneurs, the company develops enterprise grade
business applications for insurance and government Insurance (Life, Pensions, Annuity and
General), Government / Public Sector, Health, Retail and Financial Services.
With employee strength of over 3300 people, they operate across India, U.S., Canada, U.K.
and Asia-Pacific. Mastek's revenues for the Fiscal Year ended March 2014 was INR 1000
crore (154 Million USD).
Mastek foundation spent INR 86 lakhs in 2013-14 which represents 1.7% of the profit made
by Mastek Ltd in 2013-14.

Mastek CSR Policy


Mastek drives its CSR initiatives via the Mastek foundation.
Mastek believes that social impact by corporations must be long-lived and enduring, and
should go beyond providing mere financial support, whose impact lasts for a few weeks or
months. The mission of Mastek Foundation is 'Informed Giving, Responsible
Receiving'.
The Foundation works towards creating awareness among corporate professionals and NonGovernment Organisations (NGOs), and provides them with regular help and support for
participation in community and social work.

The Mastek Foundation organises and supports a variety of meaningful social welfare
campaigns and community and volunteering services. Through such activities, Mastek
employees (Mastekeers) connect with their environment in order to contribute their bit to
building a better world. Mastek foundation has adopted the following five causes for

2014-15, they are:

Transformation of NGOs through IT


3

Promoting education.
Preventive health care and eradicating malnutrition.
Promoting gender equality and empowering women
Ensuring Environmental sustainability and animal welfare.

To enable the above initiatives Mastek foundation has partnered with 17 non profits
operating in and around Mumbai, where the company is head-quartered.

CSR Initiative Examples

Transforming NGOs through IT

Through this programme, Mastek used its core competency in IT to create


awareness among NGOs on reaping the optimal benefits of information technology.

Example-

Snehalaya
Mastek helped Snehalaya in evaluating a robust Donor Management System based
on the Microsoft Dynamic CRM platform. Activities covered were requirements
Definition, Project Management, Testing, Training, Rollout and Implementing phases.
The project was implemented in six months and is used by the NGO to manage
donations, beneficiaries, volunteers and generating online receipts and MIS.
Kherwadi Social Welfare Association (KSWA)
Offers vocational training programmes for underprivileged youth. It services 67
centers across India, supporting over 800 employees and over 300,000 students
across India at any point of time. Mastek is actively involved in driving the complete
IT operations and program management at KSWA.
Mission for Vision (MFV)
Provides quality eye care for Indias rural poor by supporting over 200,000 free eye
surgeries annually with the help of partner hospitals. MFV generates a huge amount
of data through its surveys each year. However, as this data is in hard copy format, it
is difficult to convert it into electronic format and then generate MIS to gauge the
impact of its initiatives. The conversion can take over three months, which prevents
the NGO from acting on its information quickly and effectively.
Mastek has helped the NGO develop a system that capture data in electronic format
and make it available to the management in real-time. This will help MFV take

informed decisions quickly and demonstrate the impact it has created to its
stakeholders and donors.
Magic Bus
Magic Bus steers children towards a better life with better awareness, better life
skills, and better opportunities, in the journey from childhood to livelihood.
Mastek is working with Magic bus to develop a robust IT enabled field reporting ,MIS
and impact reporting system, this will help Magic Bus in their ambitious scaling plan
which aims to target 1 million children by the end of 2016.
Engaging Employees through Volunteering and Payroll Giving

Payroll giving- In the year 2013-14, 1234 employees raised INR 36.7 lakhs
through payroll giving for the community, a total of 16 NGOs were supported by
the funds raised.
Mastekeers are regular donors at the Foundation's blood donation drives for
thalassemic patients
Every winter, the clothes donation drive for homeless people attracts liberal
donations from Mastekeers
Every weekend, Mastekeers spend time mentoring children supported by various
NGOs
organise a regular book donation drive for setting up and contributing to libraries
run by the NGOs
During and after public festivals in India, Mastekeers volunteer for clean-up
activities
The Foundation actively promotes a 'green' culture ('greenovate') for conserving
the environment. Implemented ISO 14001 at Mastek office complex in Mumbai.
Encourages individual Mastekeers and enables them to make their unique
contributions in specific social sectors. Example work of Shrinivas Kini towards
promoting arts among school children. Kini is actively involved in bringing art to
mainstream school curriculum through a series of inter-school painting
competitions.
Mastekeers participated in tree plantation drive at Bhavale Loland and also got to
meet great leaders from the well-known Chipko Movement.

References:
1. Mastek Annual report
http://www.mastek.com/images/annual_reports/2014/MASTEK_AR_2014.pdf
2. Mastek Foundation CSR: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx2uvN517f0
3. Mastek's 30 Years Journey: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQqyh8bs_S0
4. PWC report on CSR- http://www.pwc.in/assets/pdfs/publications/2013/handbook-oncorporate-social-responsibility-in-india.pdf

You might also like