The attitude and philosophy of the Tata group is guided by the principles of our founders, who believed that we must balance the interests of all our stakeholders. This is to do with our idea of ‘ownership’; no one person owns the group.

The business model of the Tata group speaks of its character. We strive to convert our intent into action. Our idea of ownership and rules of governance make our group one of the foremost when it comes to corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities.

The Tata group has non-financial goals as well. We believe in maintaining the environment in which we live, we conserve bio-diversity and preserve wildlife.

We aim to improve the quality of life of the communities we serve. We have evolved the Tata Index, a matrix through which Tata companies can implement, direct and measure the social development endeavours they are involved in. The emphasis on measuring the impact of these programmes is greater now than ever before.

The Tata group’s activities relate to health, primary education, vocational training, and helping women, children and the mentally and physically challenged. Through various grants, the Tata trusts and relief committees build institutions, support scholars, and rehabilitate disaster-affected people.

We are one of the first business groups in India to be part of Global Compact, a UN initiative under which companies adhere to universal principles on human rights, environment and business ethics.

Tata companies also follow what is called ‘triple bottom line reporting’ (on the economic, social and environmental aspects of a corporate’s activities), another UN initiative. Both are voluntary.

The writer is vice president, group corporate social responsibility for the Tata Council for Community Initiatives. He spoke to Neeta Kolhatkar

dna.sunday, January 29