IndianOil: Enriching Lives, Spreading Smiles

Suresh Kr Pramar

Indian Oil Corporation Limited, is currently India's largest company, by sales, with a turnover of Rs. 2,20,779 crore, the highest-ever for an Indian company, and profits of Rs. 7,499 crore for fiscal 2006. It is the highest-ranked Indian company in the prestigious Fortune 500 list at 135th position based on its 2006 performance. It is also the 20th largest petroleum company in the world. IndianOil has been named India's number one among 'Top Valuable Companies in the 15th Edition of Business Today's BT500 listing of India's `Most Valuable Companies'.

The present company took birth in 1964 with the merger of Indian Oil Company and Indian Refineries. Among the companies in its group are IndianOil Technologies Ltd, Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd, Bongaigaon Refinery & Petrochemicals Ltd, IndianOil (Mauritius) Ltd and the Lanka IOC

The group has a combined refining capacity of 54.20 million metric tonnes per annum or 1.1 million barrels per day. The IndianOil Group owns and operates 10 of India's 18 refineries These include two refineries of subsidiary Chennai Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (CPCL) and one of Bongaigaon Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (BRPL).

The group owns and operates the largest network of cross-country crude oil and products pipelines of over 9,000 kilometres in length with a combined capacity of 60.49 MMTPA. It has a countrywide network of 30,000 sales points,183 bulk storage installations, 97 aviation fuel stations and 88 Indane LPG bottling plants.

As a company with large resources and an equally large spread in the country IndianOil is deeply conscious of its Corporate Social Responsibility. With the mission to help enrich the quality of life of the community and preserve the ecological balance and heritage through strong environmental conscience the IndianOil Corporation has made Corporate Social Responsibility the cornerstone of its activities.

The company’s 9,000 kilometre cross country pipeline traveses through many remote areas and underdeveloped villages placing additional demands on its corporate social responsibility agenda. Partnering with villagers of these areas IndianOil has provided support for education, health and sanitation. The partnership benefits both. For the villagers funds are made available for development activities whereas the company gains the help and support of the villagers in the security and safety of its pipeline.

The company has set itself certain core values like “care, innovation, passion and trust”, to guide it in all it’s commercial and social obligations. According to its message on the website the company “ takes pride in being able to claim all our countrymen as our customers. That is why we coined the phase ‘IndianOil-India Trusts’... We are aware of the need to work beyond financial considerations and to put in that little extra to ensure that we are percieved not just as a Corporate behemonth that exists just for profit, but as a wholesome entity created for the good of society and for improving the quality of life of the communities we serve.”

Since inception the company has taken strong steps to achieve its social responsibility objectives thereby building value for the shareholders and customers. Says Chairman Sarthak Behuria, “ The Corporation respects human rights, values its employees, and invests in innovative technologies and solutions for sustainable energy flow and economic growth.”

Over the past four decades the Corporation has supported innumerable social and community initiatives in various parts of the country. Through its support for environmental and health-care projects, social and cultural programmes it has impacted positively on the lives of several lakhs of people in the country.

IndianOil units across the country identify appropriate community development programmes or deserving causes in their vicinity.Wherever necessary the Corporation executes these projects itself. To ensure that the benefits of the programmes flow to the identified target groups fund utilisation is closely monitored. "The local gram panchayats, district administration, NGOs and social workers are involved wherever necessary. Potable water and medicare account for the maximum of our community development budget," says the Chairman,

In its community development programmes the Corporation undertakes activities in health, family welfare, education, environmental protection, provision of portable drinking water facilities, sanitation, and the empowerment of women and other marginalised groups. In times of an emergency IndianOil has lent its efforts, physical and financial, to provide succour to the victims

The company’s, social initatives focus on the welfare of the economically and socially deprived sections of the population. According to the company management every year a fixed portion of the company’s profits are set aside to finance “the spreading of smiles on millions of faces across the country.”

Of the total amount set aside one-fourth is earmarked for programmes for the scheduled tribe and caste beneficiaries.
As part of its community focussed activities the Corporation allots petrol/diesel sation dealerships and LPG distributionships to beneficiaries among scheduled caste and schedule tribe, physically handicapped, ex-servicemen, war widows, etc. The Corporation has set up kisan seva kendras a small-format retail outlets, to reach quality products and services to people in the rural areas.

The Corporation has identified clean drinking water as the major requirement of a significant number of villages in remote areas. Insufficient rainfall and falling water table results in these areas facing water scarcity year after year. IOC has undertaken pioneering initiatives in an effort to provide succour to parched throats in areas where it has its units.

The company has also reached out to other areas to provide help. It has helped to create physical assets in villages of Koyali, Karachiya in the State of Gujarat, New Baholi in the State of Haryana, etc. The Corporation has adopted Shob Mathai, a Harijan basti with a population of 1,000 near Allahabad, for its complete development. It has undertaken various development schemes including the construction of approach road, community centre, primary school building and the provision of street lights.

To promote and improve health care facilities the Corporation runs child and maternity health centres with the active partnership of local communities. Full-fledged hospitals in IndianOil’s refinery townships provide health care facilities for neighbourhood communities. Physical assets like equipment and ambulances are provided to hospitals and medical research centres have been provided for the benefit of the community.

The Company recently donated Rs 1 crore to the Sankara Netralaya Centre a reputed eye hospital and research centre in Chennai to set up a Vision Research Foundation. Earlier in 2003 it had donated Rs. 50 lakh for a state-of-the-art Refractive Surgery Centre at Sankara Nethralaya. In 1997, it had donated Rs. 24 lakh to the institution to install the fourth generation Excimer Laser for corneal refractive surgery, to ensure greater precision and safety in the procedure.

IndianOil has actively joined the fight against HIV/AIDS by associating itself with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to address the issue of HIV infection. It has adopted a policy of non-discrimination in relation to HIV/AIDS infection for employment, as well as training, transfer or promotion. It follows very liberal policy as far as medical treatment is concerned.

The motivating factors for the initiatives were rapid spread of the disease in migrating workforce and transport workers because of illiteracy. Officers of the Company in the various states provide assistance to Project Directors of State AIDS control Society of National AIDS Control Organization, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India.

IndianOil encourages peer education for awareness programme on HIV/AIDS for our employees. Housewives are approached through ladies club and the children through school teachers/doctors. Truck drivers and transport workers are contacted through the Company’s retail outlets, spread all over the country. These retail outlets are also good rallying point for dissemination of HIV/AIDS related messages including dispensing of condoms.

In the area of education, IndianOil contributes to construction of school buildings and libraries, and provision of furniture, books, uniforms, lab equipment, etc. Deserving students from poor and needy families are extended a helping hand through the IndianOil Scholarship Scheme.

The IndianOil scholarship scheme is proving to be a boon for students from economically deprived groups. The scheme helps to spread the light of learning among hundreds of meritorious students from various parts of the country. Under the scheme 450 scholarships are awarded every year to students selected on merit-cum-means basis.

Of these 250 scholarship of Rs 1,000 each are for 10+/ITI students for two years. One hundred are for engineering students and 40 for medical students, amounting to Rs 2,000 per months for a period of 4 years. Sixty scholarships of Rs 2,000 each for two yearsare awarded to students pursuing management courses. Special preference is given to girls students, physically challenged students and students from the North East and Jammu and Kashmir

The Corporation also offers sports scholarships for upcoming junior players, besides providing employment to national and international level sportspersons. IOC is possibly best known for its sports scholarship. These scholarships are offered to budding players in the age group 15-18 years and potential/talented players below 15. The scholarships are for the duration of three years subject to performance review every year.

IndianOil has created a non-profit trust, the IndianOil Foundation, in collaboration in the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and the National Culture Fund of the Ministry of Culture, Government of India to protect, preserve and promote the heritage of the country. Exclusively funded by IndianOil with an initial corpus of Rs. 25 crore and an annual contribution of Rs. 10 crore, IOF plans to adopt at least one heritage site in every state and Union Territory.

The Corporation supports a variety of endeavours in arts, culture, music and dance, apart from organising programmes on its own under the banners of IndianOil Art Exhibition, IndianOil Sangeet Sabha and IndianOil Kavi Sammelan.

Safety, health and environment protection being high on its corporate agenda, IndianOil is committed to conducting business with a strong environment conscience, to ensure sustainable development, safe work places and enrichment of the quality of life of its employees, customers and the community.

The Company has invested close to Rs. 7,000 crore in state-of-the-art technologies at its refineries for production of green fuels meeting global standards,as part of its environment-protection initiatives. It is now in the process of commercialising various options in alternative fuels such as ethanol-blended petrol, biodiesel, and Hydrogen and Hydrogen-CNG mixture

IndianOil is also committed to the Global Compact Programme of the United Nations and endeavours to abide by the 10 principles of the programme, some of which are already part of the Corporation’s Vision and Mission statements. It is the firm resolve of IndianOil people to move beyond business, touch every heart and fuel a billion dreams.(CRBiz January 2008)

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