Mahatma Gandhi Mission’s

Institute of Management Studies & Research

MGM Educational Campus, Sector 1, Kamothe – 410 209

PROJECT REPORT
ON

CSR ACTIVITIES AT MAHINDRA CO.

SUBMITTED TO
MGM’S INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES &
RESEARCH, NAVI MUMBAI
BY

RAJAN THEVAR
Roll NO:31
Batch No: 2018-2020

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
MASTER OF MANAGEMENT STUDIES (MMS), UNIVERSITY
OF MUMBAI
JANUARY 2019
Index
 DECLARATION

I, Mr.RAJAN THEVAR hereby declare that this project report is

the record of authentic work carried out by me during the period from
JAN 2020 to FEB 2020 and has not been submitted to any other
University or Institute for the award of any degree / diploma etc.

Signature

Name of the student :

RAJAN THEVAR
Date:
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr RAJAN THEVAR of MGM’s Institute of

Management Studies & Research has successfully completed the project

work titled CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBIITY OF MAHINDRA CO

in partial fulfillment of requirement for the completion MMS as prescribed

by the University of Mumbai.

This project report is the record of authentic work carried out by him during

the period from JAN 2020 to FEB 2020 .

He has worked under my guidance.

Signature
Name :Dr.Saloni Desai
Project Guide
Date :

Counter signed by
Signature
Name: Prof.Ashwini Arte
Director
Date :
 AKNOWLEDGEMENT

A project is never the sole product of a person whose name has appeared on the cover.
Even the best effort may not prove successful without proper guidance. For a good
project one needs proper time, energy, efforts, patience, and knowledge. But without
any guidance it remains unsuccessful. I have done this project with the best of my
ability and hope that it will serve its purpose.

“To be or not to be is not anything which matters, how to be thankful is what really
matters”

It was really a great learning experience and I am really thankful to my Director Prof.
ASHWINI ARTE and my project guide DR.SALONI DESAI ,who not only helped
me in the successful completion of this report but also spread his precious and
valuable time in expanding my knowledge base.

I wish to acknowledge my gratitude towards MGM Management College, and all

those persons who are responsible for the successful completion of this project.
 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Mahindra and Mahindra is an Indian multinational car manufacturing corporation

headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It was established in 1945 as
Muhammad & Mahindra and later renamed as Mahindra and Mahindra. It is one of the
largest vehicle manufacturers by production in India and the largest manufacturer of
tractors in the world. It is a part of the Mahindra Group, an Indian conglomerate.
It was ranked 17th on a list of top companies in India by Fortune India 500 in 2018. Its
major competitors in the Indian market include Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors.

Established by the late Mr. K. C. Mahindra in 1953, the K. C. Mahindra Education

Trust aims to 'Transform the lives of people in India through education, by providing
financial assistance and recognition to them, across age groups and across income
strata'. It was registered as a Public Charitable Trust under the Bombay Public Trusts
Act, 1950. The K.C. Mahindra Education Trust has undertaken a number of education
initiatives to make a difference to the lives of deserving students.

The Mahindra Foundation has been set up with a specific objective: to provide
medical relief to the poor and needy sections of society. The foundation has helped
patients suffering from cancer, heart ailments as well as burn victims. It has also been
very active during national calamities and disasters and has helped contribute and
mobilize resources. The foundation also extends its support to academia and other
professionals and sportsmen by helping them attend workshops and conferences
overseas. The Mahindra Group has always been very responsive to any major
disaster in India.
 COMPANY PROFILE

Founded: 02 October 1945

Founders: J. C. Mahindra
K. C. Mahindra
M. G. Muhammad

Headquarters: Mumbai, Maharashtra, India

Key people: Anand Mahindra (Chairman)

Pawan Kumar Goenka(MD)

Products: Automobiles, commercial vehicles, two-wheelers

Number of employees: 42,875

REVENUE: 105806 crore (2019)
 CHAPTER I
COOPERATIVE RESPONSIBILITIES
INTRODUCTION OF CSR :

CSR is stands for Cooperative Social Responsibity, which means kinds of

responsibility of the organization towards the society. It is an evolving
concept which is yet to command a standard definition or a fully
recognized set of criterion. With the given understanding that businesses
have a key role of job and wealth creation in society.

CSR generally understood to be the way an organization achieve a balance

between economic, environment and social imperative while they address the
exception if shareholders and stakeholders. It is generally accepted that
business firms have so vial responsibilities that extend well beyond what in
the past was commonly referred to simply as the business economic
function.

Corporate social responsibility ("CSR" for short, and also called corporate
conscience, citizenship, social performance, or sustainable responsible
business) is a form of corporateself-regulationintegrated into a business
model. CSR policy functions as a built-in, self-regulating
mechanism whereby business monitors and ensures its active compliance
with the spirit of the law, ethical standards, and international norms. The
goal of CSR is to embrace responsibility for the company's actions and
encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment,
consumers, employees, communities, stakeholdersand all other members of
the public sphere. Furthermore, CSR-focused businesses would
proactivelypromote the public interestby encouraging community growth
and development, and voluntarily eliminating practices that harm the public
sphere, regardless of legality. CSR is the deliberate inclusion of public
interestinto corporate decision-making, and the honouring of a triple bottom
line: people, planet, profit.

The term "corporate social responsibility" came in to common use in the

early 1970s, after many multinational corporations formed. The term
stakeholder, meaning those on whom an organization's activities have an
impact, was used to describe corporate owners beyond shareholdersas a
result of an influential book by R. Edward Freeman,Strategic management: a
stakeholder approach in 1984. Proponents argue that corporations make
more long term profits by operating with a perspective, while critics argue
that CSR distracts from the economic role of businesses. Others argue CSR
is merely window-dressing, or an attempt to pre-empt the role of
governments as a watchdog over powerful multinational corporations.

CSR is titled to aid an organization's mission as well as a guide to what the

company stands for and will uphold to its consumers. Development business
ethicsis one of the forms of applied ethicsthat examines ethical principles
and moral or ethical problems that can arise in a business environment. ISO
26000is the recognized international standard for CSR (currently a Draft
International Standard). Public sector organizations (the United Nations for
example) adhere to the triple bottom line(TBL). It is widely accepted that
CSR adheres to similar principles but with no formal act of legislation. The
UNhas developed the Principles for Responsible Investmentas guidelines for
investing entities.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has variously been described as a

‘motherhood issue’, ‘the hot business issue of the naughtiest’ and ‘the talk of
the town in corporate circles these days’. There seems to be an infinite
number of definitions of CSR, ranging from the simplistic to the complex,
and a range of associated terms and ideas (some used interchangeably),
including ‘corporate sustainability, corporate citizenship, corporate social
investment, the triple bottom line, socially responsible investment, business
sustainability and corporate governance’ (Prime Minister's Community
Business Partnership). It has been suggested that
‘some…researchers…distort the definition of corporate social responsibility
or performance so much that the concept becomes morally vacuous,
conceptually meaningless, and utterly unrecognizable’; or CSR may be
regarded as ‘the panacea which will solve the global poverty gap, social
exclusion and environmental degradation’.

An approach for CSR that is becoming more widely accepted is community-

based development approach. In this approach, corporations work with local
communities to better themselves. For example, the Shell Foundation's
involvement in the Flower Valley, South Africa. In Flower Valley they set
up an Early Learning Centre to help educate the community's children as
well as develop new skills for the adults. Marks and Spenceris also active in
this community through the building of a trade network with the community
- guaranteeing regular fair tradepurchases. Often activities companies
participate in are establishing education facilities for adults and HIV/AIDS
education programmes. The majority of these CSR projects are established in
Africa. JIDF For You, is an attempt to promote these activities in India.

A more common approach of CSR is philanthropy. This includes monetary

donations and aid given to local organizations and impoverished
communities in developing countries. Some organizations do not like this
approach as it does not help build on the skills of the local people, whereas
community-based development generally leads to more sustainable
development.

Another approach to abcd CSR is to incorporate the CSR strategy directly

into the business strategy of an organization. For instance, procurement of
Fair Tradetea and coffee has been adopted by various businesses including
KPMG. Its CSR manager commented, "Fairtrade fits very strongly into our
commitment to our communities."
Another approach is garnering increasing corporate responsibility interest.
This is called Creating Shared Value, or CSV. The shared value model is
based on the idea that corporate success and social welfare are
interdependent. A business needs a healthy, educated workforce, sustainable
resources and adept government to compete effectively.

In earlier times the managers in most cases had only to concern themselves
with the economic results of their decisions. Todays managers must also
consider & weigh the lehgal, ethical, moral & repercussion of each of their
decisions. All companies have to ensure that their activities do not adversely
affect the environment. Depletion of natural resources, like forests or ground
water is a case in point. Recovery of heat or minerals from flue gases or
effluents reduces pollution and the consumption of scarce resources, while
saving money. Atmospheric pollution affects the health of people and so
must be minimized. Laws relating to the environment should be observed
both in letter and in spirit.

After a comprehensive study of competitor strategy and an internal policy

review performed, a comparison can be drawn and a strategy developed for
competition with CSR initiatives.
CSR IN SOCIETY
FEATURES OF CSR :->

• Increasing inconsistencies between corporate actions.

• Creating the good relationship between customers & firm.

• Improvement of responsibilities towards the employees.

• Improving the company status in the market.

• Helping to solve the social problem.

 CHAPTER-2

NEED OF CSR :

While the interests of shareholders and the actions of managers of any business
enterprise have to be governed by the laws of economics, requiring an adequate
financial return on investments made, in reality the operations of an enterprise
need to be driven by a much larger set of objectives that are today being defined
under the term CSR.

The CSR is important for broad rationale for a new set of ethics for corporate
decisions making, which clearly constructs and upholds a organization’s social
responsibility, arises form the fact that a business enterprise derives several
benefits from society, which must, therefore, require the enterprise to provide
returns to society as well.

The CSR is beneficial for clearly establishes the stake of a business organization
in the good health and well being of a society of which it is a part.

Most importantly in this age of widespread communication and growing

emphasis on transparency, customers of any product or services are unlikely to
feel satisfied in buying from an organization that is seen to violate the
expectations of what is deemed to be ethically and socially responsible behavior.

The CSR now a days becoming increasingly evident that organizations that pay
genuine attention to the principles of socially responsible behavior are also
finding favor with the public and are the preferred choice for their goods and
services.
 WHY CSR IS SO IMPORTANT

The CSR is important to improve the financial performance of firm :

The management literature has acknowledged social responsibility as an

important corporate duty. Given the significance of corporate social
responsibility in corporate decision making the relationship between a firm’s
social and ethical policies or actions and its financial performance is an
important topic.

Heightened public creditability :

In this regard the number of companies is maintaining their public relationship

for inventing their business status good in the people’s eyes. The CSR is very
important to provide the good services to their customers and other
surrounding peoples.

It helping to reduce cost :

The CSR is helping to the customers to reduce the cost of good and services
in many ways. By maintaining good relation with the people leads to
increase the business activity with the demand.

To increase attractiveness of investors :

The CSR helps to the company to earn huge profit by maintaining CSR
among their members and surrounding people.

Improve relationship with stakeholders :

Good public relation among the members helps the business to maintain
their goodwill in the market.
CHALLENGES OF CSR :

Lack of awareness of general public in CSR activities

There is a lack of interest of the general public in participating and

contributing to CSR activities of companies. This is because of the fact that
there exists little or no knowledge about CSR. The situation is further
aggravated by a lack of communication between the companies involved in
CSR and the general public at the grassroots.

Need to build local capacities

There is a need for capacity building of the local non governmental

organizations as there is serious dearth of trained and efficient organizations
that can effectively contribute to the ongoing CSR activities initiated by
companies. This seriously compromises scaling up of CSR initiatives and
subsequently limits the scope of such activities.

Issues of transparency

Lack of transparency is one of the key challenge for the

corporate as there exists lack of transparency on the part of the small
companies as they do not make adequate efforts to disclose information on
their programmed, audit issues, impact assessment and utilization of funds.
This negatively impacts the process of trust building among the companies
which is key to the success of any CSR initiative.

Non-availability of well organized non-governmental organizations

There is non-availability of well organized non governmental organizations

in remote and rural areas that can assess and identify real needs of the
community and work along with companies to ensure successful
implementation of CSR activities.

Visibility factor

The role of media in highlighting good cases of successful CSR initiatives is

welcomed as it spread good stories and sensitizes the population about
various ongoing CSR initiatives of companies. This apparent influence of
gaining visibility and branding exercise often leads many non-governmental
organizations to involve themselves in eventbased programmers in the
process; they often miss out on meaningful grassroots interventions.

Narrow perception towards CSR initiatives

Non-governmental organizations and Government agencies usually possess a

narrow outlook towards the CSR initiatives of companies, often defining
CSR initiatives more as donor-driven. As a result, corporate find it hard to
decide whether they should participate in such activities at all in medium and
long run.

Non availability of clear CSR guidelines

There are no clear cut statutory guidelines or policy directives to give

definitive directions to CSR initiatives of companies. The scale of CSR
initiatives of companies should depend upon their business size and profile.
In other words, the bigger the company, the larger its CSR programmed.

Lack of consensus on implementing CSR issues

There is a lack of consensus amongst implementing agencies regarding CSR

projects. This lack of consensus often results in duplication of activities by
corporate houses in areas of their intervention.
CSR ACTIVITIES OF MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA:

The social initiatives of the group have been very well streamlined where
each group company donates 0.5% of their PAT to the K C Mahindra
Education Trust and adopts projects under the Trust. The remaining 0.5% is
used by the company to run community development programs on their own.

1. K. C. Mahindra Education Trust: Established by the late Mr. K. C.

Mahindra in 1953, the K. C. Mahindra Education Trust aims to 'Transform the
lives of people in India through education, by providing financial assistance
and recognition to them, across age groups and across income strata'. It was
registered as a Public Charitable Trust under the Bombay Public Trusts Act,
1950. The K.C. Mahindra Education Trust has undertaken a number of
education initiatives to make a difference to the lives of deserving students.
The Trust promotes education mainly by way of scholarships. It has provided
more than Rs. 13.80 crores (approximately US $ 3.0 million) in the form of
grants, scholarships and loans. Some of these scholarships were instituted as
far back as the 1950's, while others were founded recently. These are funded
through an investment portfolio, the main donors of which are the Mahindra
Group of companies.

2. Mahindra Academy: As part of its Corporate Social Responsibility

activities, the Mahindra Group has established schools near its factories
primarily for children of its employees. At present, the Group has three
schools that impart high standards of education - Mahindra Academy at Malad
in Mumbai, Mahindra Academy in Zaheerabad and a school in Khopoli. The
establishment of these schools has not just benefited their employees but also
the community around these schools. Teachers at these schools are qualified
and undergo regular training as well as attend relevant workshops. Their
teaching methodologies are constantly evaluated and modified when
necessary.
3. Disaster Relief: The Mahindra Foundation has been set up with a specific
objective: to provide medical relief to the poor and needy sections of society.
The foundation has helped patients suffering from cancer, heart ailments as
well as burn victims. It has also been very active during national calamities
and disasters and has helped contribute and mobilize resources. The
foundation also extends its support to academia and other professionals and
sportsmen by helping them attend workshops and conferences overseas. The
Mahindra Group has always been very responsive to any major disaster in
India. Whether it's been the tsunami or the Gujarat earthquake, the Mahindra
family has got together and always provided support either by way of
financial help or by way of sending vehicles, supplying material or manpower.

4. The Group has Transformed 3 municipal Gardens: The Shivaji Garden

(near Gateway of India) is admired for its beautiful architecture and
flourishing plants and flowers. Completely renovated by the Mahindra Group
at a cost of Rs. 6 Lakhs, it now has pathways for pedestrians as well as new
stretches of lawns and flowers. An area formerly frequented by anti-social
elements has been merged with the garden, to prevent further misuse. Every
effort has been taken to keep the garden in an immaculate condition and
visiting hours are in place, facilitating maintenance work. The Traffic Island
Garden (opposite Regal Cinema) has been completely renovated by the
Mahindra Group at the cost of Rs. 1 Lakh. New lamp posts and a variety of
plants were put into place and the fountain was restored to its former glory.
The garden provides visual relief in this crowded and traffic congested circle.
The third garden is located at the junction of Madame Cama Road, to the
south of Oval Maidan. This is a brand new garden, developed by the group
from scratch, at a cost of Rs. 1.5 Lakhs.

5. Reducing CO2 Emissions: The Bijlee The Bijlee is an innovative, home

grown, first-of-its-kind electric three wheeler, India‟s tried and tested battery
operated vehicle. The Bijlee is an innovative “Kind to Man” technology
initiative from Mahindra & Mahindra‟s alternate fuel programme. It is a zero
emission electrically powered vehicle that runs on a 72 volts DC motor. The
Bijlee‟s 12 batteries allow the customer to do 80 km at a speed of 35 km/hour.
With a replacement battery on board the vehicle can easily give 120 kms. The
electric vehicle has spacious interiors, with ample space for an entire family.
It has no engine, gearbox radiator and no silencer, which makes it a virtually
noise free vehicle. Bijlee gives quality output without choking the
environment and is favoured by governments and institutions, which lay focus
on conserving the environment. 10 Mahindra Bijlees were handed over to
customers in 2006 by the Chief Minister of Pondicherry.

6. Nanhi Kali: Nanhi Kali is a program that supports education for the girl
child and is being run by the K C Mahindra Education Trust (KCMET). The
project currently (2007) supports the education of over 32,000
underprivileged girl children.

7. Environmental Initiatives: The environmental Performance enhancement is

achieved through setting and reviewing EMS Objectives and Targets,
management programmes at plant level and at relevant functional levels.
These are in line with the Environmental Policy approved by the sector
president. Some of the key Environmental initiatives and areas of achievement
in Nashik site are as follows. Air Pollution: Exhaust provided for all stacks
in paint shops. Incinerators for ensuring complete combustion of flue gases
Scrubber for removing Suspended Particulate Matter Pollution levels
monitored every six months using external professional Lab. Ambiant Air,
Ambiant noise Combustion Stacks Process Stacks Work Place Air, noise Use
of Ear Muffs, Ear plugs ensured in all high noise areas.Water Pollution:
State of the Art combined STP (Sewage Treatment Plant) and ETP (Effluent
Treatment Plant) installed in Plant Operation and Maintenance of ETP/STP
closely monitored. Effluent pollution parameters monitored.

8. Mahindra Pride schools: It has decided to start two schools called Mahindra
Pride schools for the SC/ST youth. From the first Pride school, over 2000
students have been placed with a starting salary of Rs. 9000.Business for
value or Values in Business
9. Hariyali: It is a mass tree plantation & target was to plant 1 million trees.

10. ESOP: It enables Mahindra workforce to collectively donate thousands of

human hours for various social projects, in the three focused areas of
Education, Health and Environment.

11. Aanganwadi: Centre to serve educational & recreational needs of local

children.

12. Schools adopted by M&M: With an aim to improve the learning level of
children in government schools, the Mahindra Group has entrusted K. C.
Mahindra Education Trust to support 6 government schools in the city of
Mumbai, which have drop out rates as high as 15% by Std V and 22% by Std
VII. A survey conducted in 60 schools in Mumbai revealed that 60% of
students studying in Std III would not read even simple paragraphs, 40% in
Std IV could not write and 32% were not able to do simple arithmetic. K. C.
Mahindra Education Trust has identified Naandi Foundation as our
implementation partner to help us support these schools through their
Ensuring Children Learn programme. The schools identified are needy
government schools and 5 of them located close to the factories and offices
were selected to allow the employees an opportunity to easily volunteer at
these field sites.

13. Mahindra Search for Talent Scholarship: This was initiated in 1983. This
has been set up in 35 educational institutions across the country with an
objective to enthuse and reward excellence in academics. This scholarship is
awarded to students obtaining the highest aggregate marks, based on the year-
end examination. Further a student who receives the Mahindra Search for
Talent scholarship more than once, is awarded the Honour scholarship which
includes a cash prize of Rs. 5000/- and a citation from the Trust.
14. Mahindra Pride Schools: As part of the 60th year celebrations, Mahindra
& Mahindra through its K C Mahindra Education Trust set up 2 Mahindra
Pride Schools, with the prime objective of empowering youth from socially
disadvantaged sections of society by extending livelihood training, to enable
them to gain employment based on their skills. The schools offer equal
opportunity for men and women, with a focus on rural youth. These schools
are nonresidential and offer various alternative livelihood options. To
effectively run the Mahindra Pride schools, KCMET decided to partner with
Naandi Foundation, a not for profit trust with a proven track record in the field
of education and livelihood creation.

15. Health: Blood Donation – Totally 14 camps conducted with 797 donors
Eye Camps – 7 Eye Camps conducted in which one was on Eye Donation
Awareness and others focused on eye testing and about 64 cataract operations
were recommended. Surgical Camp in association with Rotary Club for about
300 tribals in which 175 surgeries took place Health Check Up –A unique
initiative through which 115 Railway Porters at CST Mumbai were given
health cards after check up, similarly a camp benefited 170 policemen in
Mumbai. HIV/ Aids Awareness – 2 Camps were conducted in both urban &
rural areas.
 CONCLUSIONS

With businesses focusing on generating profits, CSR was not a popular

concern among companies up until recently. With increased media attention,
pressure from non-governmental organizations, and rapid global information
sharing, there is a surging demand to involve into CSR at various level like
conducting sustainable business practices and doing social welfare activities.
Mahindra & Mahindra group plays major role, in fulfilling its duties towards
the societal orientation segment. Its Kisan-Mitra Initiative helps farmers
generating wealth by getting education on latest argi-trends and this way
company also generates good revenues from the wealthier and more loyal
customers, and also increase their customer base.