Liberty Shoes has been focusing on the issue of sustainability by taking care of the 3E’s namely environment, equity and economics. One of the major steps it has undertaken is to use environment-friendly raw materials. Besides adopting a ‘Green Earth Policy’ as the fulcrum of our corporate activities, we have laid the maximum emphasis on achieving ‘Water Conservation’ and ‘Energy – Efficiency’ in everything we do, the company’s Director Anupam Basal informed S&A in an interview.
With consumers becoming ever more concerned about product origin, how consistent is your approach towards sustainability in your business operation?
As a socially responsible corporate citizen our emphasis is on meeting needs of the present without jeopardizing the future. In fact we are focusing on the issue of sustainability by taking care of the 3E’s namely environment, equity and economics. One of the major steps we have taken is to use environment-friendly raw materials like artificial leather that is PU-based and PVC-based for our products. Even for our packaging, we are using re-cycled paper to help save trees. And that’s not all. Minimizing the use of depleting natural resources is the cornerstone of our corporate policy. We’ve also taken the initiative to boost tree plantation in a big way around all our manufacturing units. To sum it up, our goal is to emerge as the trustees of future generations and to leave the Earth much greener than we found it.
In India, the need for corporate social initiatives is quite essential in addressing a lot of social issues. Given this, in what scale do you integrate them to your overall strategy?
Social consciousness is ingrained in our business operations. Besides adopting a ‘Green Earth Policy’ as the fulcrum of our corporate activities, we have laid the maximum emphasis on achieving ‘Water Conservation’ and ‘Energy – Efficiency’ in everything we do. In fact 2% of the net profit we make in the immediately preceding 3 financial years is spent on Corporate Social Activities. Further, any surplus funds generated out of our CSR projects is added to our CSR corpus.
Share with us some of the social initiatives you have undertaken in the recent time.
Our social initiatives include:
- Education for children
- Monetary contribution to educational institutions
- Skill development programs for women, elderly and differently-abled
- Boosting rural development by improving accessibility, sanitation, power & drinking water availability, sanitation and preventive healthcare
- Promoting sports with special emphasis on rural sports
- Welfare for differently-abled
- Setting up public libraries
- Reducing inequalities faced by socially and economically-challenged groups
- Protecting national heritage, art, culture and handicrafts
- Welfare of armed forces personnel, war widows and other dependents
Were you able to achieve the intended target of the initiatives?
Our CSR department monitors and provides regular reports to the CSR Committee of the Board on achievements of the year-to-date in terms of coverage compared to target. In case of any shortfalls, the reasons are analyzed. A monthly monitoring of targets achieved is also undertaken.
How strong is the understanding of corporate social initiative in India among the business communities?
Today all corporate organizations swear by CSR and seek to burnish their image by highlighting their CSR achievements. It’s their way of repaying to the society a portion of what they take from it.
