Introduction

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) plays a major role in developing the economy of a
country. It can be defined as the way in which a company manages various business entities
to produce an impact on the society. Companies with high CSR standards are able to
demonstrate their responsibilities to the stock holders, employees, customers, and the general
public.
Business organizations that have high corporate social responsibility standards can attract
staff thereby reducing employee turnover and cost of recruitment. What is the importance of
corporate social responsibility? Anyone can give a clear answer to this question. Companies
voluntarily contribute a large sum of money to make a better society and a clean
environment. Corporate social responsibility is a process in which all companies come
together as one and take part in the welfare of the society. Many organizations conduct
campaigns to create awareness among corporate, civic bodies, and government bodies about
the importance of corporate social responsibility.
Many national and multinational firms are booming in various developing countries. But at
the same time, these countries suffer social challenges such as poverty, corruption, population
growth, etc. Therefore, it is important for all companies to strive together and adapt corporate
social responsibility standards to make the society better than before. An organization can
exhibit a better image in the society if it cares for its employees and involve them in social
activities. The responsibilities of an organization may range from providing small donations
to executing bigger projects for the welfare of the society. Many business houses around the
world show their commitment to corporate social responsibility.
What is the importance of corporate social responsibility? The answer lies in two things:
1) organizations understanding their role in developing a society and
2) awareness among business houses, corporate bodies, and the people. Versatile, profitable,
and dynamic businesses are the driving forces that build the economy of the country. We must
remember that the growth of a country purely depends on the growth of the society and the
people in the society.

What is CSR?
CSR in India CSR 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. As some observers have pointed out, the
practice of CSR in India still remains within the philanthropic space, but has moved from
institutional building (educational, research and cultural) to community development through
various projects. Also, with global influences and with communities becoming more active
and demanding, there appears to be a discernible trend, that while CSR remains largely
restricted to community development, it is getting more strategic in nature (that is, getting
linked with business) than philanthropic, and a large number of companies are reporting the
activities they are undertaking in this space in their official websites, annual reports,
sustainability reports and even publishing CSR reports. The Companies Act, 2013 has
introduced the idea of CSR to the forefront and through its disclose-or-explain mandate, is
promoting greater transparency and disclosure. Schedule VII of the Act, which lists out the
CSR activities, suggests communities to be the focal point. On the other hand, by discussing a
companys relationship to its stakeholders and integrating CSR into its core operations, the
draft rules suggest that CSR needs to go beyond communities and beyond the concept of
philanthropy. It will be interesting to observe the ways in which this will translate into action
at the ground level, and how the understanding of CSR is set to undergo a change.
A robust and thriving development sector is central to Indias quest for equitable, inclusive
and sustainable growth. Indias development sector has evolved substantially over the last
few decades and is now witnessing unprecedented interest and investments across the value
chain. With the passage of the Companies Act, 2013 the mandate for corporate social
responsibility (CSR) has been formally introduced to the dashboard of the Boards of Indian
companies. The industry has responded positively to the reform measure undertaken by the
government with a wide interest across the public and private sector, Indian and multinational
companies. The practice of CSR is not new to companies in India. However, what this Act
does is bring more companies into the fold. Also, it is likely that the total CSR spends will
increase. What is clear to many companies is that if this increased spending is to achieve
results on the ground which is the intent of the Act then it needs to be done strategically,
systematically and thoughtfully.
India is a country of myriad contradictions. On the one hand, it has grown to be one of the
largest economies in the world, and an increasingly important player in the emerging global
order, on the other hand, it is still home to the largest number of people living in absolute
poverty (even if the proportion of poor people has decreased) and the largest number of
2

undernourished children. What emerges is a picture of uneven distribution of the benefits of

growth which many believe, is the root cause of social unrest. Companies too have been the
target of those perturbed by this uneven development and as a result, their contributions to
society are under severe scrutiny. With increasing awareness of this gap between the haves
and the have-nots, this scrutiny will only increase over time and societal expectations will be
on the rise. Many companies have been quick to sense this development, and have responded
proactively while others have done so only when pushed. Governments as well as regulators
have responded to this unrest and the National Voluntary Guidelines for Social,
Environmental and Economic Responsibilities of Business or the NVGs (accompanied by the
Business Responsibility Reports mandated by the SEBI for the top 100 companies) and the
CSR clause within the Companies Act, 2013 are two such instances of the steps taken.
According to Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, a minimum of 6,000 Indian companies
will be required to undertake CSR projects in order to comply with the provisions of the
Companies Act, 2013 with many companies undertaking these initiatives for the first time.
Further, some estimates indicate that CSR commitments from companies can amount to as
much as 20,000 crore INR. This combination of regulatory as well as societal pressure has
meant that companies have to pursue their CSR activities more professionally.

Benefits of a Robust CSR Programme

Benefits of a robust CSR programme As the business environment gets increasingly complex
and stakeholders become vocal about their expectations, good CSR practices can only bring
in greater benefits, some of which are as follows:
Communities provide the licence to operate: Apart from internal drivers such as values and
ethos, some of the key stakeholders that influence corporate behaviour include governments
(through laws and regulations), investors and customers. In India, a fourth and increasingly
important stakeholder is the community, and many companies have started realising that the
licence to operate is no longer given by governments alone, but communities that are
impacted by a companys business operations. Thus, a robust CSR programme that meets the
aspirations of these communities not only provides them with the licence to operate, but also
to maintain the licence, thereby precluding the trust deficit.
Attracting and retaining employees: Several human resource studies have linked a
companys ability to attract, retain and motivate employees with their CSR commitments.
Interventions that encourage and enable employees to participate are shown to increase
employee morale and a sense of belonging to the company.
Communities as suppliers: There are certain innovative CSR initiatives emerging, wherein
companies have invested in enhancing community livelihood by incorporating them into their
supply chain. This has benefitted communities and increased their income levels, while
providing these companies with an additional and secure supply chain.
Enhancing corporate reputation: The traditional benefit of generating goodwill, creating a
positive image and branding benefits continue to exist for companies that operate effective
CSR programmes. This allows companies to position themselves as responsible corporate
citizens.

In a recent study by PwC India, the following findings were seen with regards to areas of
CSR. The research focused on understanding broad thematic areas such as education, health
care, environment, livelihood, rural development and disaster relief as a focus of CSR
initiatives covered in each of these broad thematic areas covered by the companies include
health, education, livelihoods, environment and rural development. Of these thematic areas,
education is the most common and research indicates that 100% of the companies included in
the research were found to have some initiatives on education followed by livelihoods and
environment and then health care and rural development.

TOP 10 CSR FIRMS IN INDIA FOR 2014

Tata Steel: The company uses Human Development Index to keep track
of CSR in villages.
Tata Chemicals: The company spends Rs 12 cr on CSR every year &
wildlife conservation
tops priority.
Mahindra Group: CSR is a mix of strategic philanthropy, shared values
& sustainability.
Maruti Suzuki: Community development and road safety propel
Maruti's CSR in the fast lane.
Tata Motors: The company drives CSR through healthcare and

education.
Siemens
Larsen & Toubro
Coca-Cola India
Steel Authority of India
Infosys

INTRODUCTION TO HUL

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's largest Fast Moving Consumer Goods
Company with a heritage of over 80 years in India and touches the lives of two out of three
Indians.
HUL works to create a better future every day and helps people feel good, look good and get
more out of life with brands and services that are good for them and good for others.
With over 35 brands spanning 20 distinct categories such as soaps, detergents, shampoos,
skin care, toothpastes, deodorants, cosmetics, tea, coffee, packaged foods, ice cream, and
water purifiers, the Company is a part of the everyday life of millions of consumers across
India. Its portfolio includes leading household brands such as Lux, Lifebuoy, Surf Excel, Rin,
Wheel, Fair & Lovely, Ponds, Vaseline, Lakm, Dove, Clinic Plus, Sunsilk, Pepsodent,
Closeup, Axe, Brooke Bond, Bru, Knorr, Kissan, Kwality Walls and Pureit.
The Company has over 16,000 employees and has an annual turnover of INR 27408 crores
(financial year 2013 - 2014). HUL is a subsidiary of Unilever, one of the worlds leading
suppliers of fast moving consumer goods with strong local roots in more than 100 countries
across the globe with annual sales of 49.8 billion in 2013. Unilever has 67.25%
shareholding in HUL.
Our vision
Unilever is a unique company, with a proud history and a bright future. We have ambitious
plans for sustainable growth and an intense sense of social purpose.
A CLEAR DIRECTION
Our purpose is to make sustainable living commonplace. We work to create a better future
every day, with brands and services that help people feel good, look good, and get more out
of life.
In 2009, we launched The Compass our strategy for sustainable growth. It sets out our clear
and compelling vision to double the size of the business, while reducing our environmental
footprint and increasing our positive social impact and gives life to our determination to build
a sustainable business for the long term. This is captured in the Unilever Sustainable Living
Plan.
By combining our multinational expertise with our deep roots in diverse local cultures, were
continuing to provide a range of products to suit a wealth of consumers. Were also
strengthening our strong relationships in the emerging markets we believe will be significant
for our future growth.
And by leveraging our global reach and inspiring people to take small, everyday actions, we
believe we can help make a big difference to the world.
"We cannot close our eyes to the challenges that the world faces. Business must make an
explicit and positive contribution to addressing them. Im convinced we can create a more
equitable and sustainable world for all of us by doing so, says Unilever CEO Paul Polman.
7

But this means that business has to change. The Unilever Sustainable Plan is a blueprint for
sustainable growth. And in 2014 we are strengthening our Plan with new commitments to
drive further transformational change.
A HEALTHIER FUTURE

Our Flora/Becel margarine brands have been scientifically proven to help reduce
cholesterol levels

Vaseline has launched the Vaseline Skin Care Foundation, providing research into
skin conditions and support for people affected by them

Lifebuoy soap has long had a presence in developing markets around the world, and
its campaign to promote handwashing with soap was celebrated by 200 million people
across 53 countries in 2013.

A BETTER FUTURE FOR THE PLANET

Were aiming to grow our business while reducing our environmental footprint and
working across the supply chain for every brand to do so

Our Laundry brands, including Surf, Omo, Persil and Comfort, have launched the
Cleaner Planet Plan together, encouraging consumers to change their laundry habits to
reduce water and energy consumption

Our Lipton tea brand backs sustainable forest management projects in Africa

A BETTER FUTURE FOR FARMING & FARMERS

Many of our brands contain ethically and sustainably sourced ingredients that are
independently certified

Among these are Lipton tea, which is accredited by the Rainforest Alliance, and Ben
& Jerrys ice cream, which includes Fairtrade vanilla and almonds in various flavours

Around half our raw materials come from agriculture and forestry, so were working
towards making our key crops 100% sustainable.

History of HUL

In the summer of 1888, visitors to the Kolkata harbour noticed crates full of Sunlight soap
bars, embossed with the words "Made in England by Lever Brothers". With it, began an era
of marketing branded Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG).
In 1931, Unilever set up its first Indian subsidiary, Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing
Company, followed by Lever Brothers India Limited (1933) and United Traders Limited
(1935). These three companies merged to form HUL in November 1956; HUL offered 10%
of its equity to the Indian public, being the first among the foreign subsidiaries to do so.
Unilever now holds 67.25% equity in the company. The rest of the shareholding is distributed
among about three lakh individual shareholders and financial institutions.
The erstwhile Brooke Bond's presence in India dates back to 1900. By 1903, the company
had launched Red Label tea in the country. In 1912, Brooke Bond & Co. India Limited was
formed. Brooke Bond joined the Unilever fold in 1984 through an international acquisition.
The erstwhile Lipton's links with India were forged in 1898. Unilever acquired Lipton in
1972, and in 1977 Lipton Tea (India) Limited was incorporated.
Pond's (India) Limited had been present in India since 1947. It joined the Unilever fold
through an international acquisition of Chesebrough Pond's USA in 1986.
The liberalisation of the Indian economy, started in 1991, clearly marked an inflexion in
HUL's and the Group's growth curve. Removal of the regulatory framework allowed the
company to explore every single product and opportunity segment, without any constraints
on production capacity.
HUL formed a 50:50 joint venture with the US-based Kimberly Clark Corporation in 1994,
Kimberly-Clark Lever Ltd, which markets Huggies Diapers and Kotex Sanitary Pads. HUL
has also set up a subsidiary in Nepal, Unilever Nepal Limited (UNL), and its factory
represents the largest manufacturing investment in the Himalayan kingdom. The UNL factory
manufactures HUL's products like Soaps, Detergents and Personal Products both for the
domestic market and exports to India.
The 1990s also witnessed a string of crucial mergers, acquisitions and alliances on the Foods
and Beverages front. In 1992, the erstwhile Brooke Bond acquired Kothari General Foods,
with significant interests in Instant Coffee. In 1993, it acquired the Kissan business from the
UB Group and the Dollops Icecream business from Cadbury India.
Finally, BBLIL merged with HUL, with effect from January 1, 1996. The internal
restructuring culminated in the merger of Pond's (India) Limited (PIL) with HUL in 1998.
The two companies had significant overlaps in Personal Products, Speciality Chemicals and
Exports businesses, besides a common distribution system since 1993 for Personal Products.
The two also had a common management pool and a technology base. The amalgamation was
done to ensure for the Group, benefits from scale economies both in domestic and export
markets and enable it to fund investments required for aggressively building new categories.
In January 2000, in a historic step, the government decided to award 74 per cent equity in
Modern Foods to HUL, thereby beginning the divestment of government equity in public
9

sector undertakings (PSU) to private sector partners. HUL's entry into Bread is a strategic
extension of the company's wheat business. In 2002, HUL acquired the government's
remaining stake in Modern Foods.
In 2003, HUL acquired the Cooked Shrimp and Pasteurised Crabmeat business of the
Amalgam Group of Companies, a leader in value added Marine Products exports.
HUL launched a slew of new business initiatives in the early part of 2000s. Project Shakti
was started in 2001. It is a rural initiative that targets small villages populated by less than
5000 individuals. It is a unique win-win initiative that catalyses rural affluence even as it
benefits business. Currently, there are over 45,000 Shakti entrepreneurs covering over
100,000 villages across 15 states and reaching to over 3 million homes.
In 2002, HUL made its foray into Ayurvedic health & beauty centre category with the Ayush
product range and Ayush Therapy Centres. Hindustan Unilever Network, Direct to home
business was launched in 2003 and this was followed by the launch of Pureit water purifier
in 2004.
In 2007, the Company name was formally changed to Hindustan Unilever Limited after
receiving the approval of share holders during the 74th AGM on 18 May 2007. Brooke Bond
and Surf Excel breached the the Rs 1,000 crore sales mark the same year followed by Wheel
which crossed the Rs.2,000 crore sales milestone in 2008.
On 17th October 2008 , HUL completed 75 years of corporate existence in India.
In January 2010, the HUL head office shifted from the landmark Lever House, at Backbay
Reclamation, Mumbai to the new campus in Andheri (E), Mumbai.
On 15th November, 2010, the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan was officially launched in
India at New Delhi.
In March, 2012 HULs state of the art Learning Centre was inaugurated at the Hindustan
Unilever campus at Andheri, Mumbai.
In April, 2012, the Customer Insight & Innovation Centre (CiiC) was inaugurated at the
Hindustan Unilever campus at Andheri, Mumbai
HUL completes 80 years of corporate existence in India on October 17th, 2013.

HUL & CSR

10

Policy:
HUL is committed to operate and grow its business in a socially responsible way. Our vision
is to grow our business whilst reducing the environmental impact of our operations and
increasing our positive social impact.
This policy outlines our Corporate Social Responsibility agenda. Our aim is to achieve
responsible growth and we will inspire to bring this to life by encouraging people to take
small everyday actions that will add up to make a big difference. We have embraced Unilever
Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) which contributes to activities listed in the Schedule VII of
Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013. The USLP has three global goals namely help more
than a billion people take action to improve their health and wellbeing, reduce the
environmental footprint of our products and enhance the livelihoods of people as we grow
our business. Additionally, considering India as a water scarce region and the water
availability is expected to go down further, HUL has identified water as a key area of
intervention. We will focus in this area by creating capacities in conserving water through
significant investments in partnership with relevant stakeholders with the objective of water
conservation.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Principles: HULs CSR Policy is supported by the
following principles:
1

1. We are committed to conducting our operations with integrity and respect, in the
interest of our stakeholders, and in line with our Code of Business Principles.

2. We believe growth and environmental sustainability need not be conflicting. Our

business model is designed to deliver sustainable growth. The inputs to the model are
our brands, our people and our operations. The outputs to the model are sustained
growth, lower environmental impact and positive social impact. The differentiator in
our business model is our USLP and the goal of sustainable living.

3. We collaborate and engage with different stakeholders including Governments,

NGOs, IGOs, Suppliers, Farmers, and Distributors to tackle the challenges faced by
the society.

In accordance with Section 135(5) of the Companies Act, 2013 (the Act), HUL is committed
to spend at least 2% of its average net profits made during the three immediately preceding
11

financial years in some of the identified activities that are listed in Schedule VII (as amended)
to the Act. This will include the spends through activities undertaken by Hindustan Unilever
Foundation (HUF), our not for profit subsidiary Company, aimed at building capacities to
conserve water and to further community development initiatives.
HUL's Best CSR Initiatives
Water Conservation and Harvesting
HUL's Water Conservation and Harvesting project has two major objectives:
a. to reduce water consumption in its own operations and regenerate sub-soil water tables at
its own sites through the principles of 5R - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Recover and Renew;
b.

help

adjacent

villages

to

implement

appropriate

models

of

watershed

development.
SHAKTI - Changing Lives in Rural India
Shakti is HUL's rural initiative, which targets small villages with population of less than 2000
people or less. It seeks to empower underprivileged rural women by providing incomegenerating opportunities, health and hygiene education through the Shakti Vani programme,
and creating access to relevant information through the iShakti community portal.
In general, rural women in India are underprivileged and need a sustainable source of income.
NGOs, governmental bodies and other institutions have been working to improve the status
of rural women. Shakti is a pioneering effort in creating livelihoods for rural women,
organised in Self-Help Groups (SHGs), and improving living standards in rural India. Shakti
provides critically needed additional income to these women and their families, by equipping
and training them to become an extended arm of the company's operation.
Health & Hygiene Education
Lifebuoy Swastya Chetna (LBSC) is a rural health and hygiene initiative which was started in
2002. LBSC was initiated in media dark villages (in UP, MP, Bihar, West
Bengal, Maharashtra, Orissa) with the objective of spreading awareness about the importance
of washing hands with soap.

12

The need for a program of this nature arose from the fact that diarrhoeal diseases are a major
cause of death in the world today. It is estimated that diarrhoea claims the life of a child every
10 seconds and one third of these deaths are in India. According to a study done by the
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the simple practice of washing hands with
soap and water can reduce diarrhoea by as much as 47%. However, ignorance of such basic
hygiene

practices

leads

to

high

mortality

rates

in

rural India.

Economic Empowerment of Women

The Fair & Lovely Foundation is HUL's initiative which aims at economic empowerment of
women across India. It aims to achieve this through providing information, resources, inputs
and support in the areas of education, career and enterprise. It specifically targets women
from low-income groups in rural as well as urban India. Fair & Lovely, as a brand, stands on
the economic empowerment platform and the Foundation is an extension of this promise. The
Foundation has renowned Indian women, from various walks of life, as its advisors. Among
them are educationists, NGO activists, physicians. The Foundation is implementing its
activities in association with state governments.
Special Education & Rehabilitation
Under the Happy Homes initiative, HUL supports special education and rehabilitation of
children with challenges.
Asha Daan:
The initiative began in 1976, when HUL supported Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of
Charity to set up Asha Daan, a home in Mumbai for abandoned, challenged children, and the
destitute.
Kappagam:
Encouraged by Ankur's success, Kappagam ("shelter"), the second centre for special
education of challenged children, was set up in 1998 on HUL Plantations in South India. It
has 17 children. The focus of Kappagam is the same as that of Ankur.

13

PROJECT SHAKTI : ONE OF THE BEST CSR INITIATIVES BY HUL

A Shaktimaan is a male member of a shakti entrepreneur family. In 2000, HUL collaborated
with selfhelp groups to expand its rural reach under project Shakti. It partnered women
entrepreneurs called Shaktiammas from rural areas of Andhra Pradesh and 14 other states by
offering them opportunities for business. The objective was not only to increase direct reach
in rural areas, but also build brands through local influencers. Today, there are around 45,000
Shakti ammas on board, taking products to across 1 lakh villages and over 30 lakh
households every month. HUL soon figured out that the men folk from Shakti households,
who would by now be familiar with the operations and product range of the company, could
be used for the next leap to reach villages with a population of less than 2,000. They have
been christened Shaktimaans. Roughly one in two Shakti households would provide a
Shaktimaan. While there are no fixed selection criteria, a Shaktimaan is chosen based on his
locational advantage and his proximity to villages which are to be covered. Since the
Shaktimaan is a male member of the Shakti household, his additional income from this
programme results in an increase in household income. A Shakti entrepreneur typically earns
an average of Rs 1,000 per month. It is estimated that the Shaktimaan would earn 2.5 times
this amount, given the arduous task he has been given to perform. The Shakti ammas and
Shaktimaans are not paid employees of the company. HUL gives Shaktimaans (male
members), a bicycle, to be able to service villages within a 3 to 5 kms radius and hence cover
a larger area than a woman, Shakti amma, can cover on foot. On an average a Shaktiman
does approximately double the business of a Shakti amma and helps reach media-dark
regions which no other large FMCG company has penetrated, said the top HUL official. An
HUL spokesperson said in an email that Project Shakti is a rural distribution initiative that
targets small villages populated by less than 5,000 individuals. It is a unique win-win
initiative that catalyses rural affluence even as it benefits business. Project Shakti benefits
business by significantly enhancing HULs direct rural reach, and by enabling its brands to
communicate effectively in media-dark regions. HUL is also undertaking initiatives such as
Khushiyon ki doli through which it reaches 50,000- 70,000 villages with a set of five to
seven relevant brands and extols the virtues of washing hands before meals, washing clothes
with a soap or detergent, among others. HUL this year will also roll out its IQ solution, which
enables salesmen to record orders for outlets on an utomated handheld device that connects
directly to the system and helps retailers reduce the incidence of stock outs.HUL is using a
network of 45,000 Shakti ammas and 23,000 Shaktimaans to reach consumers in villages
14

where its not economical for our wholesale distributors to service. This was one of the major
steps in helping us triple our rural reach in 2010-2011, equaling what we had done in the last
75 years of business in India. HUL estimates that India has more than 630,000 villages, most
of which are hard to reach and offer relatively lower business potential. Reaching them
through the conventional distribution system is a challenge.
Shobha was married at the age of 19 and stayed in a village near Mumbai in Maharashtra.
She was struggling to make ends meet after the death of her husband. Her son had stopped
going to school and their financial condition was becoming worse. Then one day she
associated herself with Project Shakti and became a Shakti Amma. She started selling
Hindustan Unilever Limited products in her own and in nearby villages, and slowly her life
changed. Working as a Shakti Amma, she was able to save some money and started sending
her son to school again. Her familys quality of life improved. Besides money, Project Shakti
helped her gain something more meaningful respect and dignity. Today, Project Shakti
continues to empower millions of women like Shobha in rural India.
At Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL), we have always believed in an approach of doing
business which we call doing well by doing good. Project Shakti, our initiative that
combines social responsibility, sustainability, and business strategy is an ideal example of this
approach.
Project Shakti is a rural distribution initiative in small villages. The project benefits HUL by
enhancing its direct rural reach and at the same time creates livelihood opportunities for
underprivileged rural women. Shakti started with 17 women in one state. Today, it provides
livelihood enhancing opportunities to over 65,000 Shakti Entrepreneurs who distribute our
productions in more than 165,000 villages and reach over four million rural households.
As per Unilever Sustainable Living Plan, Unilever will increase the number of Shakti
entrepreneurs that it recruits, trains and employs from 45,000 in 2010 to 75,000 in 2015
globally.
WHY IT STARTED
In 1990s HUL wanted to expand its reach in rural India. It had a choice to adopt the
traditional distribution model which could have set the cash registers ringing. But HUL
adopted an approach which was rooted in its belief of Doing Well by Doing Good. It

15

created a unique micro-entrepreneurship model with the aim of integrating business interests
with societal need.
This model has been guided by the belief that the private sector can help create solutions to
social challenges through innovative strategies that meet both business and social objectives.
By promoting micro-enterprise, Project Shakti not only made great business sense but also
had deep social impact.
The choice of micro-entrepreneurship model had clear benefits for the rural community:

Sustainable investment opportunity for village community/rural women.

Increase in the household income of poor families of Shakti Entrepreneurs (SEs).

Empowerment to rural women.

Better standards of living though access to health and hygiene products.

Basic business management training for sustained livelihood to rural underprivileged

women. In this unique model, the company sells the products at additional discounts
to the Shakti Entrepreneurs (SEs) thus enabling them to raise incomes of their
families. The initiative almost doubles the average household income of a SE.
Moreover, the company also invests in training the entrepreneurs and empowering
them with sales tools like mobiles, bicycle etc.

In general, a rural woman from poor economic background (in some cases member from a
Self Help Group) is selected as a Shakti entrepreneur, commonly referred as 'Shakti Amma'.
She receives stocks from HULs rural distributor. After being trained by the company, the
Shakti entrepreneur then sells those goods directly to consumers and retailers in the village.
Historical data shows that a majority of our Shakti Ammas are earning more than Rs. 1,000 a
month. This is a significant proportion when compared to the per capita income of their state,
especially for the poorer states.
In 2013, we focused on improving and stabilizing the mobile based mini ERP (Enterprise
Resource Planning) solution that we introduced in the Shakti network last year. This has
helped Shakti Ammas to take and bill orders, manage inventory and drive better distribution
efficiencies.
16

SHAKTIMAANS
The programme was extended in 2010 to include Shaktimaans who are typically the
husbands or brothers of the Shakti ammas. Shaktimaans complement our Shakti ammas. They
sell our products on bicycles to surrounding villages, covering a larger area than Shakti
ammas can do on foot. There are over 50,000 Shaktimaans across India. Each shaktimaan
covers around 3 villages in his own villages vicinity which is a larger area than a woman,
Shakti amma, can cover on foot.
A GEM FOR UNILEVER
HULs Project Shakti became the model to reach out to rural consumers in developing and
emerging markets and enabled Unilever to tap opportunity at the bottom of the pyramid. The
project is being customized and adapted in several South-East Asian, African and Latin
American markets like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. In Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, it
is being promoted as project Joyeeta and Saubaghya respectively.

PROJECT SHAKTI : INSPIRING STORIES AND SCOPE

From the time HLL's new distribution model, named Project Shakti, was piloted in Nalgonda
district in 2001, it has been scaled up and extended to over 5,000 villages in 52 districts in
AP, Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh with around 1,000 women entrepreneurs in its
fold. The vision is ambitious: to create by 2010 about 11,000 Shakti entrepreneurs covering
one lakh villages and touching the lives of 100 million rural consumers.
What's Project Shakti all about? How does it work and benefit the company? Catalyst was
part of a media team that HLL invited to visit Peddakaparthy village to see Project Shakti at
work. The team visits the house of Jella Sujathamma, whose spouse is a weaver who weaves
the famous Pochampally sarees of AP. However, her income was not enough for her family,
which includes three children.
Five years ago, Sujathamma had joined a self-help group (SHG), formed by the district rural
development authority. HLL has operated Project Shakti through these self-help groups; AP
was chosen for the pilot project as its has the most number and better established SHGs there are about 4.36 lakh SHGs in AP covering nearly 58.29 lakh rural women. C.S.
Ramalakshmi, Commissioner, Women Empowerment & Self employment, Govt of AP, points
17

out that AP alone has about half of the SHGs organised in the country. Says Pradeep
Kashyap, Managing Director, Marketing & Research Team (MART): "This network has
ensured that AP is the incubator for all our experiments in working out new models of
distribution of FMCGs and other products." MART, an organisation which works in the
social sector, implements the on-ground activities for many companies wanting to work the
rural sector, including HLL. The likes of Sujathamma, among the first Shakti entrepreneurs,
have been chosen from these SHGs. She, HLL officials explain, is a shining example of the
success of the model - Sujathamma, on an initial loan of Rs 10,000 from her SHG to start the
enterprise, has a turnover of Rs 10,000-Rs 25,000 a month earns a profit of Rs 750-Rs 2,000
a month, an average return of 8 per cent. Besides, she now also sells staples, sugar, edible oil
and a variety of other household items.
The objectives of Project Shakti, explains Dalip Sehgal, Executive Director, New Ventures &
Marketing Services, HLL, are to create "income-generating capabilities for underprivileged
rural women by providing a sustainable micro-enterprise opportunity" and to improve rural
living standards through "health and hygiene awareness". For HLL, it is "enlightened selfinterest". Creating opportunities to increase rural family incomes puts more money in their
hands to purchase the range of daily consumption products - from soaps to toothpastes - that
HLL makes. It also enables HLL access hitherto unexplored rural hinterlands. Says Sehgal,
"We looked at several models of rural distribution, even at the Grameen Bank model in
Bangladesh, before we decided on the pilot in Nalgonda to figure out this model. Now the
model has been refined based on our learning here and we expect to roll out quickly in other
states."
For HLL greater penetration in rural areas is also an imperative - presently over 50 per cent of
its incomes for several of its product categories like soaps and detergents come from rural
India. The challenge for HLL now is to take its products to towns with a smaller population under 2,000 people. As Sehgal points out, HLL's conventional hub-and-spoke distribution
model which it uses to great effect in both urban and semi-urban markets, wouldn't be costeffective in penetrating the smaller villages. Now, with this new distribution model, the
smaller markets are now being referred to as `Shakti markets'.

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How it works
Typically, a woman from a SHG selected as a Shakti entrepreneur receives stocks at her
doorstep from the HLL rural distributor and sells direct to consumers as well as to retailers in
the village.
Each Shakti entrepreneur services 6-10 villages in the population strata of 1,000-2,000 people
Typically, as Sehgal points out, a Shakti entrepreneur sets off with 4-5 chief brands from the
HLL portfolio - Lifebuoy, Wheel, Pepsodent, Annapurna salt and Clinic Plus. "These are the
core brands, they we layer it with whatever else is in demand like talcum powder or Vaseline
during winters," elaborates Sehgal. These brands apart, other brands which find favour with a
rural audience are: Lux, Ponds, Nihar and 3 Roses tea. Typically, unit packs are small. All the
brands are national and HLL is cool to the idea of creating a rural-specific brand as it will
only dissipate the advertising media effort for the brands. To get started the Shakti woman
borrows from her SHG and the company itself chooses only one person. With training and
hand-holding by the company for the first three months, she begins her door-to-door journey
selling her wares.
The impact is slow and HLL too is not expecting any quick returns on this project. In Andhra,
so far, since the experiment began, HLL has seen 15 per cent incremental sales from rural
Andhra, which contributes 50 per cent to overall sales from Andhra of HLL products. But
analysts see this rural foray as something the company has got to do. As Nikhil Vora, Sr. Vice
President of research group ASK Raymond James explains, if there is one company that can
take on the onus of developing the rural markets, it's HLL. Says he: "HLL contributes 20 per
cent of the total FMCG business in the country. So, clearly, the onus is on HLL to grow the
market. Returns may not happen in the next five years, but a lot of consumer understanding
and insights comes from an exercise like Project Shakti, which in turn can lead to product
innovation."
An analyst with a leading brokerage points out that a lot of HLL's rural initiatives in the
recent past have not paid off because of poor rural incomes. But, a monsoon revival and
greater rural incomes can mean payback time for projects like Shakti. "Large companies like
HLL have to push greater into rural areas. Brand loyalty is declining among urban
consumers; they're looking mostly for consumer promos; regional brands too are snapping at
their heels. So, to attain growth, going rural has become an imperative," she says. Concurs
19

K.N. Siva Subramanian, Sr. Vice President, Franklin Templeton India Ltd: "The (HLL)
management had recognised the impending saturation of the urban markets some time back
and launched aggressive plans to capture the rural markets. However, a slowdown in the
agricultural sector resulted in rural incomes remaining flat and affecting sales. We believe
that by targeting lower price points and further expanding the distribution network,
companies can tap the potential of rural markets. Initiatives like Project Shakti will help them
in establishing and consolidating their base in rural markets." Regional brands, or even larger
FMCG companies, do not have the kind of distribution reach that HLL has established and in
the long run, that could prove a winner for HLL, according to analysts.
The future of Shakti
Having perfected the model in Nalgonda, in 2003 HLL plans to extend Shakti to a 100
districts in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and UP. There are other plans brewing. One is to allow
other companies which do not compete with HLL to get onto the Shakti network to sell their
products. Talks are on with battery companies like Nippo, TVS Motor for mopeds, insurance
companies for LIC policies. "We wanted to first stabilise the project before we can look at
other companies. It requires somebody with scale and size to build a platform and then invite
other companies onto this platform," elaborates Sehgal. The most powerful aspect about this
model, emphasises Sehgal, is that it creates a win-win partnership between HLL and its
consumers, some of whom will also draw on the organisation for their livelihood, and it
builds a self-sutaining virtuous cycle of growth for all.
The next stage of Project Shakti is even more ambitious. HLL is now in the process of
piloting `I-Shakti', an IT-based rural information service that will provide solutions to key
rural needs in the areas of agriculture, education, vocational training, health and hygiene. The
project will be piloted in Nalgonda district again. Based on a palm pilot, HLL is looking at
sourcing appropriate low-cost hardware from Hewlett-Packard while Unilever Research out
of London is developing the consumer interactivity software. As Sehgal puts it, women in the
rural areas are the catalyst of change and that is why its whole programme keeps women in
focus. "It's like popcorn in a machine; one bursts at first and then everything begins popping;
here too, one woman as an agent of change bursts into a movement," he says. Clearly, it's the
rural women who give Shakti its strength.
There are about 4.36 lakh women self-help groups in Andhra Pradesh covering nearly 58.29
lakh poor women. AP alone has about half of the SHGs organised in the country. The SHGs
20

are also popularly called DWCRA groups and this name became popular after the DWCRA
programme (Development of Women and Children in rural areas) through which women's
groups were assisted initially. The SHGs not only save but also take small loans out of the
corpus available with the group. The group corpus consists of savings , government
assistance as well as bank loans. Members use the loan out of the group corpus for their
personal needs initially. However, in the long run such loans are utilised for income
generation activities. Since the inception of the SHGs, an amount of Rs 1,362.98 crore has
been mobilised as corpus by these groups and it is estimated to reach Rs 1,500 crore by the
middle of this year.
Project Shakti as a model of distribution has attracted a lot of attention both from the
company as well as media. The model makes use of existing Self Help Groups working in
villages and appoints them as sales persons called shakti amma to sell HUL products in
villages. The idea is to be able to reach those villages which do not very good road
connectivity and penetration of media is also poor. By appointing the lady as a distributor for
the company is able to get a direct reach in villages where it had no presence earlier and the
lady would be able to get additional source of revenue. A win-win situation if one were to
describe it.
The lady- Shakti Amma would be supplied the at her door-step and she would be selling it to
the nearby cluster of 3-6 villages. The initiative has three components, one being the
distribution component, second being the use of lady for communicating health and hygiene
messages in the villages. The third component is IT, wherein a kiosk - ishakti is set up in the
village , which could be used as information kiosk in the village.

Though this is relatively an old initiative, started in 2001 in Andhra Pradesh, the news that the
model is being taken global is what has brought it back to media attention. According to the
news item, "The project is being customised and adapted in other Unilever markets such as
Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Bangladesh. It is being considered for other Latin American and
African markets. In Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, it is being promoted as Joyeeta and
Saubaghya, respectively. There is a similar initiative in Vietnam as well."
Though there are obvious positives in the project both for the company as well as the lady
who takes up the business but there are many issues which need to be looked into. One of
21

issues is the actual amount of benefit that the lady gets by in by engaging in the business for
HUL, though the company claims that it almost doubles the household incomes, but there
variations in that. Similarly the Vani component of the initiatives which is one in which the
company does not make any money is being expanded very slowly and the expansion of the
project is not very uniform and even within a village also the project impacts only one lady.
And when one interacts or sees the mileage that the company tends to derive out of the
project it makes us vary of the claims and the actual benefits.
For Rojamma, Project Shakti means being able to educate her daughters Rojamma with her
15 year old daughter Krishnaveni and 18 year old daughter Maheshwari who both go to
school in a nearby village. Rojamma is proud that the income she earns from Project Shakti
has enabled her to educate her daughters and give them a better chance in life than she had.
Rojamma is a single parent living in Kurumurthy, a small rural village 150 kilometres south
west of Hyderabad in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. From a very poor background, she
was married at seventeen to a man with whom she had two daughters but who then left her to
fend for herself. At first she earned a few rupees working in her mothers field but she found
it difficult to live on. A few years ago she joined a womens self-help group that was formed
in the village to help women like Rojamma. It felt good to be part of a group but thats not
the same as eating food, she remembers. But then a man from Hindustan Lever came to
Kurumurthy and told the women about Project Shakti. From that moment my life changed.
Hindustan Lever is Unilevers business in India. Its brands include such well-known names
as Lifebouy, Lux, Surf, Vim, Ponds and Lipton, as well as local brands, such as Kissan,
Annapurna, Lakme, Fair & Lovely and Wheel. The company generates around half its
business from Indias towns and cities and half from rural areas, where its products are sold
in some 100,000 villages with populations of 2,000 or more. By the end of the 1990s,
however, the company realised that to increase its market share it had to expand the market.
The challenge was how to reach the 500,000 villages with smaller populations in more
remote parts of the country, where there are millions of potential consumers but no retail
distribution network, no advertising coverage and poor roads and transport. Hindustan
Levers solution, called Project Shakti (which means strength in Sanskrit), was both bold
and innovative. The company decided to tap into the growing number of womens self-help
groups that had been springing up around the country. These groups, about one million of
which now exist across India, are usually formed to help women save money and borrow
from each other to avoid the excessive demands of unscrupulous moneylenders. Hindustan
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Lever made presentations at rural self-help group meetings, initially in Andhra Pradesh, and
invited women, including Rojamma, to become direct-to-consumer sales distributors. The
company provides selfhelp group women with training in selling, commercial knowledge and
bookkeeping, teaching them to become fully-fledged microentrepreneurs. The women who
are trained can then choose to set up their own business or to become Project Shakti
distributors or Shakti Ammas (mothers) as they have become known. Each woman who
becomes a distributor invests 10,000 15,000 rupees (US$220-330) in stock at the outset
usually borrowing from self-help groups or micro-finance banks facilitated by Hindustan
Lever. Each aims to have around 500 customers, mainly drawn from her villages self-help
groups and from nearby smaller villages. Most generate sales of 10,000-12,000 rupees a
month, netting a monthly shakti_final.qxd 28/2/05 1:59 pm Page 2profit of 700-1,000 rupees
(US$15-22). For those with husbands who work in the fields, this typically doubles the
household income. For single mothers like Rojamma, it is a far cry from the handful of
rupees she earned working in her mothers field. Project Shakti has proved to be a great
success for Hindustan Lever and for women in India. The project started in a few pilot
villages in Andhra Pradesh in 2000. In 2002 it expanded to two states and by the end of 2004
had grown to over 13,000 Shakti women entrepreneurs covering 50,000 villages in 12 states,
selling to 70 million consumers. This represents a 30% increase in rural population reached.
Hindustan Lever has had strong support from over 300 partners, including NGOs, banks and
both state and local government departments, who recognise the potential for economic
growth by encouraging women to become entrepreneurs. Andhra Pradesh typically had a 3%
success rate in creating entrepreneurs among womens self-help groups prior to Project
Shakti. This initiative has a 90% success rate so, not surprisingly, Andhra Pradeshs Womens
Empowerment Commissioner, Ms Ramalakshmi, requests monthly updates on Project
Shaktis progress. In 2003 Hindustan Lever started to pilot an information technology
initiative called i-Shakti. This is designed to meet rural villagers information needs and
provide organisations with communications access to those parts of the country not reached
by TV, radio and newspapers. This involves creating village kiosks containing internetlinked computers run by entrepreneurs. i-Shakti was formally launched in partnership with
the Government of Andhra Pradesh in November 2004, and aims to have 3,500 i-Shakti
kiosks on stream by the end of 2005. Mostly housed in the homes of Shakti entrepreneurs, iShakti kiosks provide villagers with free information on a wide range of topics, including
health and hygiene, agriculture and horticulture, child and adult education, finance,
employment, and entertainment. Content is in the local language and has been specially
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developed by institutions and NGOs with experts in these fields, including the Azim Premji
Foundation for childrens education, the Tata Consultancy Services Adult Literacy
Programme and ICRISAT (International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics)
for information on agriculture. i-Shakti also includes an interactive service in which villagers
can email questions to a panel of experts and receive a response within 24 hours. Sharat
Dhall, Hindustan Levers Business Head for the Shakti initiative, is excited about i-Shaktis
capabilities: Farmers can find a quick solution to pest problems with their crops, villagers
can email their symptoms to a doctor and get a diagnosis in hours rather than days, and
computer programs with voiceovers will teach people who are illiterate. Hindustan Lever
and its partners are funding the initiative in the initial stages, but in future it is planned to
charge content providers and brand advertisers to make the initiative self-financing and to
generate incomes for i-Shakti entrepreneurs. While Hindustan Lever is intent on building its
rural sales and market share, it is equally committed to improving the lives and livelihoods of
people in India. Shakti Vani (Voice) takes Project Shakti a stage further. Hindustan Lever is
now training rural women to give talks to villagers about basic health practices, such as good
hygiene, disease prevention and pre- and post-natal care. Project Shaktis role in creating
incomes for underprivileged rural women and helping to empower them economically is
more important than sales alone, says Sharat Dhall. He believes Project Shakti, i-Shakti and
Shakti Vani will have the potential to act as a catalyst for creating new markets and
generating rural micro-economies. He recognises this is something that Hindustan Lever
cannot achieve alone and is actively building links with noncompetitive partners, such as
ICICI Bank, which specialises in micro-loans. At the same time, competitors and companies
from other sectors are watching Project Shakti very closely and are expected to develop
similar distribution models. Project Shaktis goal is to recruit 100,000 Shakti entrepreneurs
covering 400,000 villages and 400 million consumers by 2008. I believe it can become the
biggest rural operation in the history of Indian business and change the way companies look
at reaching consumers living in the smallest of villages, says Sharat Dhall. For the thousands
of women like Rojamma who have become Shakti entrepreneurs, this initiative has already
changed their lives in ways that are much more profound than the income they earn selling
soaps and shampoos. It has brought them self-esteem, a sense of empowerment and a place in
society. As Rojamma says: When my husband left me I had nothing except my daughters.
Today everyone knows me. I am someone now. It has also meant she has been able to send
her daughters to school, giving them the chance in life she didnt have, although Rojammas

24

aspirations for them remain modest: I hope they have happy marriages and they too become
Shakti Ammas.
CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES ADOPTED
Challenges and Strategies Adopted HUL was quick to realize the need for an effective rural
thrust for marketing its products. Apart from helping the company increase business, it fitted
into its philosophy of community welfare and development. This rural initiative was however
not without challenges. These were faced squarely and overcome through careful planning
and execution. Penetrating rural markets was a challenge, not only because of inaccessibility
but also because consumers needed to be educated in both personal and oral hygiene matters.
HUL products are completely alien to the way of life in these rural communities. To
overcome this challenge HUL leveraged the strength of SHGs which government was
assiduously promoting at grass root level all over India. By 2000, India had a large number of
SHGs. The existence of a ready SHG network was a great opportunity. These SHGs helped
create and organize an effective marketing force in rural areas simultaneously helping create
self-employment opportunities. HULs challenge was to test whether this major organized
potential direct sales force available in the local communities could help achieve HULs
business strategy objectives of meeting the everyday needs of people everywhere while
creating wealth in the community. HUL realized that giving a hand up to the local population,
rather than a handout would meet its own business strategy and provide opportunities for new
distribution channels for its products, simultaneously providing more stable and prosperous
base to society. If micro-credit was available to local people, HUL felt that it would be
possible to build and develop established SHG networks to become directto-home HUL
distributors in rural markets. This would help create new jobs and lead to improvement in
living standards, general wealth and prosperity in India which in turn would lead to additional
demand. For HUL, more important than the scalability of this model was the challenge of
maintaining a differential value for rural consumer when he or she purchased from the SHG
sales representative.
Increasing number of individual transactions was a real challenge. There was stigma attached
to door-to-door selling, so the women waited until the SHGs got together to sell the products.
There was no transport for door-to-door selling; it had to be done on foot. Another challenge
faced by HUL was that the SHG women devoted only part of their time to selling HUL
products with rest of the time in farming and household duties. Thus, they did not have the
25

time to do the type of brand awareness building and hygiene education that a typical urban
seller would do. Major challenges faced by HUL in rural marketing was training SHGs as
marketers, communication bottlenecks, cultural differences, inert buying habits among rural
folks necessitating effective communication skills, etc. To overcome these challenges, HUL
adopted a three pronged strategy co-mingling technology and training. Thus HUL initiated
Shakti Entrepreneur, Shakti Vani and iShakti. Shakti Entrepreneur is a direct-to home
distributor in rural markets who receive stocks at their doorstep from HUL rural distributor
and sells direct to consumers and other retailers in the village. HUL chooses one person in the
SHG. To get started the Shakti woman borrows from her SHG. With training and handholding by HUL for three months, she begins her door-todoor journey selling HUL products.
Shakti Vani is a one-to-many communication scheme of Project Shakti. HUL trained local
women to give talks to villagers about hygiene, disease prevention, pre and post-natal care,
etc. Visual aids are used to overcome widespread illiteracy through meetings at schools,
village baithaks, and SHG meetings. This social communication program is operational in
states like Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Chattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh. iShakti is a IT-based
rural information service to provide demand driven information and services across large
variety of sectors such as agriculture, education, vocational training, health and hygiene. The
iShakti kiosks are operated by the Shakti Entrepreneur.

26

Benefits of Project Shakti

Despite many obstacles, Project Shakti, which started in a small way in two states, today
provides livelihood enhancing opportunities to multitudes of women in all Indian states and
provides access to quality products across more than thousand villages and over 3 million
households every month. Shakti is not only a channel for increasing the reach, the Shakti
entrepreneurs are also brand ambassadors for all HUL brands in rural India. Their relationship
with consumers is forged by their home-to-home contacts, and goes a long way in building
brand loyalty. For HUL, it is enlightened self-interest creating opportunities to increase
rural family incomes; it puts more money in their hands to purchase range of daily
consumption products ranging from soaps to toothpastes that HUL makes. Shakti is
generating additional income to women leading to their better living conditions, making basic
needs, nutrition, education, etc. affordable. With the vision to cover 5 lac villages by 2012
through its social communication programs, viz., Shakti Vani, trained Shakti women, are
making rural people informed about various products directly related with the health and
hygiene aspects. Project Shakti is a right blend of the sales objectives with societal
objectives and hence a social business initiative. It resulted in entrepreneurial
development, economic empowerment, and social empowerment. Shakti Ammas have
become the Opinion Leaders in villages. Project Shakti is stirring the stagnant society by
amplifying the feminine consciousness and empowering them and making them independent.
It is enabling families to live with dignity in better health and hygiene, helping in educating
children. There is an overall betterment in living standards of about 90 million rural
households. It has created a win-win partnership between HUL and the rural people for their
mutual benefit and growth.

27

CONCLUSION
Conclusion The overall impact of the HUL initiative is unquestionably positive. HUL
benefited with new markets and consumers and villagers, especially rural women, got
economic freedom. It helped in sustainable development of villages. It is a business initiative
with social benefits. Impact on woman along with the ripple effect on her family and
surrounding community is immense. Project Shakti provides a powerful example of a
business that profits while improving the livelihoods and quality of life for its customers.
While the living standard and status of the rural women in self help groups improved, for
HUL it helped build brand loyalty. To sustain the growth impulses, HUL set up iShakti and
Shakti Vani to provide rural India with access to information and social communication.
Project Shakti of HUL seeks to empower underprivileged rural women by providing income
generating opportunities. It helped HUL increase market share in personal care and hygiene
products as also in regular usage of HUL brands. The success of the Project is also due to
basket of products available to SHGs to sell. By assisting rural women to access micro-credit,
buy HUL products and sell them in their villages, HUL is creating markets simultaneously
creating stronger economic base within rural communities. It is thus a classic example of
corporate social responsibility of a responsible corporate alive to its surroundings and its
people.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

www.hul.co.in
www.csrindia.com
www.economictimes.com
www.forbes.com
www.kpmg.co.in
www.pwc.in
www.deloitte.co.in

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