Who does not know the Tata Group. With an estimated turnover of $14.25 billion it is one of the best-known industrial conglomerate India has. But few are aware that the Tata Group also believes in returning wealth to the society by blending ethical values with business acumen. "The Tata Council for Community Initiatives or TCCI is the nodal agency of the group concerning all matters on corporate social responsibility including social development activities, environmental management, bio-diversity restoration and volunteering. 

The CEOs of major Tata companies, presently 43, are its council members. Member companies also have its senior executive appointed as the corporate head of social responsibility. There are cross functional teams for CSR to support this activity," explained Mr Kishor Chaukar, managing director of Tata Industries and chairman of TCCI. He adds, "The teams are made of the functional heads of human resource, business excellence and ethics, communications, operations, safety, environment and community development. Presently we have around 10,400 volunteers across the group." 

The avid interest in community welfare among the Tata Group dates back to the 1860s when the company was founded by Jamshedji Tata. This explains why nearly two-thirds of the equity of Tata Sons, the Tata Group's promoter company, is held by philanthropic trusts, which have created a host of national institutions in science and technology, medical research, social studies and the performing arts besides other activities. 

The Tatas with the UNDP in India have pioneered to develop the Tata Index for Sustainable Human Development — a unique effort by any corporate to help enhance the human achievement in an initiative and be able to measure it in terms of a specific scale. 'Ten major Tata companies have deployed the Tata Index which has been presented to the UN Secretary General. Other nations where the governments and agencies invited the TCCI are Australia, Bangkok, Switzerland and Singapore," said Mr Chaukar. 

All major Tata companies are compliant to the Global Reporting Initiative (GR1) — a United Nations program which requires corpo-rates to report their social and environmental performance in addition to their finances. "Similarly, our companies are signatories to the UN Global Compact, another initiative of the UN which focuses on adherence to ten Principles on Human Rights, Environmental Protection and Anti-Corruption," he went on to explain. In keeping with the above mentioned principles, the Tata Africa Holdings which was set up as the investment arm of the Tata Group in South Africa in 1994 decided to adopt the Tata Group's philosophy of community development initiatives and CSR.

"The computer-based, adult, functional literacy programme (CBFL) developed by Tata Consultancy has been introduced in South Africa in 2003 under the aegis of the WDB Trust. The programme is set to be rolled out in other local languages in due course," stated Dr Camille Miranda Gonsalves, general manager — Media Relations. Furthermore, in association with the Indian government, Tata Africa has recently undertaken skills training programmes in India for 20 South African women drawn from the dis-advantaged sections of the society. 

This was in support of the government of South Africa's efforts towards women's empowerment and creation of self-employment opportunities. "The training programmes were organised at the various Tata facilities in Hosur (Bangalore) and Cochin," held Dr Gonsalves. With a strong legacy of social welfare, the Tata Group continues to march ahead with its employees too volunteering wholeheartedly to strengthen community ties.