TATA Steel’s CSR head to speak at Best Corporate Citizen Award 2012

India’s corporate giant TATA Steel’s Head of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Mr. Biren Bhuta is scheduled to deliver the keynote address at the upcoming Best Corporate Citizen Award 2012 organised by the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

The Best Corporate Citizen Award will be held for the ninth consecutive year on 12 Novemberat the Cinnamon Grand. Commenced in 2004 as an award scheme to recognise Corporate Social Responsibility, over the years the award has grown adding a number of new categories and promoting Corporate Social Responsibility activities and sustainable business practices amongst local businesses. The award has become a mark of quality for the noteworthy work carried by local businesses as it is awarded by the main business chamber of the country- the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce.

According to Founder of Tata Steel Jamsetji Tata, “In a free enterprise, the community is not just another stakeholder, but is, in fact, the very purpose of its existence.” Founded on this philosophy, Tata Steel’s CSR policy focuses on social sustainability, healthcare initiatives, environmental sustainability, and inclusive growth. According to the company’s Vice Chairman B. Muthuraman the company, “Believes that the primary purpose of a business is to improve the quality of life of people. Tata Steel will volunteer its resources, to the extent that it can reasonably afford, to sustain and improve a healthy and prosperous environment and to improve the quality of life of the people of the areas in which it operates.” As such Tata Steel spends 5-7% of its profit after tax on CSR initiatives, such as environmental sustainability and social development.

Leading TATA Steel’s CSR, the company’s CSR head Biren Bhuta holds vast experience and valuable insights on Corporate Social Responsibility. The Company works in partnership with the Government, national and international development organisations, local NGOs and the community to ensure sustainable development. His experiences and thoughts would provide inspiration and insights to local corporate leaders on sustainable business and CSR.    

Bhuta joined Tata Steel as a Consultant in the Chhatisgarh Project, thereby gaining insights into the tribal way of life in Bastar. Later on he worked on a project to mitigate the impact on olive ridley turtles in Orissa. Since December 2010 he has been working as the Chief of the Corporate Sustainability Services and heading the Corporate Social Responsibility interventions of TATA Steel Company in the states of Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh. Some of the main interventions he has made include sustainable livelihood, health, education, environment and ethnicity. Bhuta started his career as a corporate banker with Standard Chartered Bank and moved on to television journalism. He was a reporter and a presenter with NDTV. He holds a B.E. in Production from Bharati Vidyapeeth’s College of Engineering, Pune and a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Kolkata.