Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can be defined as the commitment by business to behave ethically while contributing to economic development, and also striving to improve the quality of life of the community in which it operates and society at large.

Jewelex India Pvt. Ltd.’s CSR philosophy:

The company’s Founders and Directors firmly believe in promoting a just & fair corporate and social environment. Being a socially responsible corporate and also contributing to the underprivileged sections of society, are the cornerstones of the company’s CSR philosophy.

CSR activities to be supported:

The company can undertake or support any of the activities listed in Schedule VII under Sec. 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 and amendments thereof. However, the focus can be mainly for the following causes:

1. Promoting Education, including special education and employment enhancing vocation skills for gainful employment of youth
2. Promoting Healthcare, including preventive healthcare

i.) Promoting Education, including special education and employment enhancing vocation skills for gainful employment of youth

The importance of education cannot be underestimated in improving the overall economic and social scenario in any society. Especially in a developing country like India, the importance of providing affordable education and vocational skills cannot be overstated.

The Government does it’s bit for providing education to all, but in the Indian context with large outlay required for Education budget, the private sector can play a major role in improving the education milieu by contributing to improvements in education outcomes.

In recent decades, India has made significant progress on access to schooling and enrollment rates in primary education but high dropout rates and low levels of learning/retention, remain challenges for the state and central government.

A high percentage of children drop out before completing five years of primary school, and an even higher percent before finishing upper primary school. Lack of teachers also remains a major stumbling block in improving learning outcomes.

Unfortunately, due to the Covid pandemic induced School shut downs, the learning outcomes have further deteriorated. It is expected that many children will not return to Schools, as they may be forced to seek employment to support family incomes.

Hence, the company will support Schools which strive for improvement in the education standard for the children and / or Institutions which provide employment enhancing vocational skills to the youth.

Masoom : Often youth drop out of School for various reasons, especially to support families financially. To enable such students to enrol themselves to complete schooling without giving up their jobs, a ‘Nightschool’ concept is very useful. The NGO, Masoom, strives to enrol students for these Evening Learning Centres in their area and then supports these schools with study material, pedagogical support to the Teachers & School Management Committees. It also strives to support students for extra-courses to enhance computer literacy or other livelihood enabling skills. The students who complete their education can cope better with their jobs than those who quit their education. Being a sound initiative, our company will support 3 Nightschools in Mumbai and also 1 in Ahmedabad, with a total outlay of Rs. 17 lakhs for the academic year 2022-23.

Trust for Retailers & Retail Associates of India : This Trust is founded by one the important figures in the Retail sector in India. He had a vision to create opportunities for the physically differently abled persons (mainly Deaf & Mute and some with orthopedic challenges), in the Retail space. This sector needs a lot of young people every year in the front offices, as Cashiers or Store Counters or even as Store managers etc. They invite applications from such persons with disabilities and a minimal school passed out qualification. They screen the applications and then provide them a 4 to 6 week, full time Vocational Training specific to the Retail sector. They have tie ups with a lot of large Retailers. This enables them to get a good placement percentage for their students. As Vocational Training is essential for livelihoods, the company will sponsor such training batches at some of their Centres in Mumbai and Ahmedabad. At approx. Rs. 4 Lakhs per batch for the training, a sum of approx. Rs. 16 – 20 Lakhs to be allocated to them for sponsoring 4 – 5 batches of approx. 25 students each. Hence, a total of around 125 students would be trained in these batches.

As part of the commitment of the company to provide opportunities to Persons with Disabilities (PwDs), we have been offering such candidates opportunities to join as ‘Apprentices’ at our Factory and then based on their performance, they can look forward to a career with the company. Such opportunities can be life-changing for such PwDs, as otherwise they would be without employment and a feeling of being a burden upon their families.

ii.) Promoting Healthcare, including preventive healthcare :

Health care, especially preventive healthcare, is one of the basic essentials to reduce suffering in human life and thereby improve the quality of living. A caring society focuses on the provision or access to adequate and timely medical care.

In a vast developing country like India, with a population of over 1.3 billion people, majority of who live in the rural hinterland, access to even basic medical care is a luxury not easily within reach. Only 2% of doctors are in rural areas - where over 65% of the population lives. Even in urban areas, quality medical care is becoming unaffordable and out of reach to a vast majority of the population.

The private healthcare sector is responsible for the majority of healthcare in India. Most healthcare expenses are paid out-of-pocket by patients and their families, rather than through insurance. This has led many households to incur ‘Catastrophic Health Expenditure’, which can be defined as health expenditure that threatens a household's capacity to maintain a basic standard of living. Ailments like Cancer, which require long term treatment, can be especially catastrophic on poor or low income families.

TMC - ACTREC : Public Hospitals like Tata Memorial Hospital which provide the full range of specialized care, up to tertiary level and that too at affordable or subsidised basis for the poor, are a big hub for Cancer treatment for patients from all over India. With lot of pressure on their existing facilities, they are now expanding their infrastructure at their Navi Mumbai campus. Their existing residential block for patients’ relatives will be renovated into a new OPD Block at their Kharghar site under TMC – ACTREC (Tata Memorial Centre – Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research & Education in Cancer). The company has committed Rs. 6 crores for the renovation, which is expected to be completed during the current year. The MOU was signed in the previous year but due to the Covid pandemic, the commencement of the renovation work was delayed. With completion of this OPD Block i.e. Ground + 3 Floors, it is expected that it will cater to a peak load of almost 2,000 patients on a daily basis. Out of the Rs. 6 crores committed for this project, the balance amount of Rs. 4.50 crores is expected to be paid during the current F.Y.

Taking into account the above, a total budget of approx. Rs. 5 crores can be allocated for the various CSR activities to be supported by the Company during this F.Y.

Nilesh Kothari

Chairman, CSR Committee