INTRODUCTION

COMPANY BACKGROUND

Nestlé India is a subsidiary of the world's largest food and beverage company Nestlé,
headquartered in Switzerland. The parent company, along with holding company Maggi
Enterprises, owns around 63% of Nestlé India, which has eight factories and four branches.
In the dairy and nutrition segment, Nestlé India accounts for almost 50% of domestic sales.
Suresh Narayanan, who joined the company in 1999, is President of Nestlé India and CEO
since August 2015 the doctor of economics has more than 30 years of experience in the
consumer goods industry. Prior to taking over from Etienne Benet as Managing Director in
India at the height of the Maggi noodle crisis, Narayanan was President and CEO of Nestlé
Philippines. Before Nestlé he worked at Hindustan Unilever and Colgate Palmolive.

Nestlé's association with India dates back to 1912 when the company began trading as Nestlé
Anglo-Swiss Condensed Milk (Export), importing and selling finished products to the Indian
market. Following India's independence from British rule in 1947, the country's new
economic policies emphasized local production, prompting Nestlé to set up a company in
India, building its first factory in Moga, in the northern state of Punjab, in 1961 to improve
the dairy infrastructure of the country expand country. Company’s operations in India
provide livelihoods to around 1 million people, including farmers and suppliers of packaging
materials.
Nestlé India Ltd. engages in the manufacture and sale of food products. The company offers
drinks; breakfast cereal; chocolates and confectionery; Dairy products; Nutrition; Groceries;
Grocery and vending services; Introduce; To run; and Nestlé advertising campaign brands. It
operates through India and Non-India geographic segments. The company was founded in
1912 and is headquartered in Gurgaon, India.
ORIGIN AND GENESIS OF CSR

Corporate citizenship or corporate responsibility are other names for CSR. In simplest terms,
it can be defined as, ‘A bunch of charitable or philanthropic activities undertaken by profit-
making business houses/companies as a gesture of gratitude to the origin of their success i.e.,
the environment and people in the form of customers, employees, investors etc.
Corporate social responsibility or CSR is a philanthropic exercise of the profit-making
corporate houses of giving back to the community and the environment. These companies can
use a part of their profit and engage in activities related to building parks, hospitals,
community houses, orphanages, install dustbins and initiate cleanliness drives, plant trees,
launch a free legal aid initiative, and much more.

Business houses in India have been taking CSR activities since time immemorial, for we have
it in our traditions and culture to believe that ‘if one has ample food, he must build a longer
table and not higher walls’. CSR owes its genesis to this very school of thought and the
earliest examples of CSR activities were seen as building creches in and around the factory,
providing clean and liveable living quarters for the labourers, setting up memorial hospitals
and trusts etc Undertaking CSR activities used to be just a moral obligation and left to the
companies to decide for themselves. However, now with the implementation of the
Companies Act, 2013; it is no longer just a moral obligation but a legal mandate under
Section 135 of the 2013 Act and Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility) Rules, 2014.

CSR INITIATIVES BY NESTLE IN INDIA

Nestle since its very inception has been taking CSR initiatives that help in adding value to the
lives of the people where they operate. As a form of expressing gratitude for the trust and
love that they have received from the people of India, they have undertaken initiatives that
would benefit different sections of our society in several ways. Nestle has funded many
projects in India to improve access to water, taken sustainability measures, steps to enhance
the livelihood of street food vendors, fitness programmes amongst others. These activities
have been chosen from the list of recognised CSR work enumerated in Schedule VII of the
Companies Act, 2013.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To study the various theories and guidelines for CSR practices at national as well as
international level.
2. To study the CSR practices as per GRI (global reporting initiative) guidelines being taken
by Nestle India Limited.
3. To analyse the effect of CSR practices on profitability of Nestle India Limited.
4. To study the stakeholders perception as well as attitude towards CSR practices in Nestle
India Limited.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

1. The research is based only on secondary data.

2. The research is only done on Nestle India Limited thus no comparison with other
companies could –not be taken for the activities done on corporate social responsibility.
3. There are very less Indian studies conducted on corporate social responsibility
COMPANY PROFILE
 ABOUT COMPANY
Nestlé India Limited is the Indian subsidiary of Nestlé which is a Swiss multinational
company. The company is headquartered in Gurgaon, Haryana. The company's products
include food, beverages, chocolate, and confectioneries. The company was incorporated on
28 March 1959 and was promoted by Nestle Alimenting S.A. via a subsidiary, Nestle
Holdings Ltd. As of 2020, the parent company Nestlé owns 62.76% of Nestlé India. The
company has 9 production facilities in various locations across India.

Nestlé India is one of the largest players in India's fast-moving consumer goods sector and
has a long history in the country. Nestlé India Limited was incorporated at New Delhi on 28
March 1959 and was promoted by Nestle Alimentana S.A. via a wholly owned subsidiary,
Nestle Holdings Ltd., Nassau, Bahama Islands. The company built their first production
facility in 1961 at Moga, in the Indian state of Punjab. Nestlé's second plant was set up at
Choladi in Tamil Nadu, the plant was built primarily to process the tea grown in the area.

In 1989, the company established a factory at Nanjangud in Karnataka. The company entered
the confectionery business in 1990 by introducing Nestlé premium chocolate. In 1991, they
started the production of soya based products through a joint venture with the BM Khaitan
group. In the year 1995 and 1997 Nestlé established two facilities
in Goa at Ponda and Bicholim respectively. In April 2000 they entered the
liquid milk and iced tea markets.

In 2006 ked the year when the company set up its 7th factory at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand. In
2007 The company opened another plant in Karnataka in 2011 bringing up its total plants in
India to 18th October 2020, Nestle India announced investment of Rs. 2,600 crores for a new
plant at Sanand in Gujarat. Initial phase of production commenced from 1 October
2021Nestlé India Limited's market cap as of December 2022 stood at Rs. 1,93,666.87 crore.
NESTLE INDIA’S CSR POLICY

Nestle India has to focus its CSR activities majorly on nutrition, water and sanitation, and
rural development. This, however, is not an exhaustive list and the Company keeps coming
up with innovative and situation-specific ideas, examples of which have been elaborately
mentioned below. All CSR Activities are chosen after carefully analysing Schedule VII of the
Companies Act, 2013, which has an exhaustive and suggestive list and procedure for a
Company’s reference while laying out the CSR Policy.

As per Rule 5 of the CSR Rules under the 2013 Act, the companies are required to form CSR
committees to formulate an annual action plan and get it approved by the Board of Directors.
In pursuant of the same, Nestle’s CSR Policy is governed by the Board of Directors who as
per the mandate of the 2013 Act have formed a CSR (Corporate Governance and Social
Responsibility) Committee. This committee structures all activities monitor the status of
every CSR project, manages the finances for CSR and regulates the policy from time to time.

HERE’S A LIST OF CSR INITIATIVES TAKEN BY NESTLE

IN INDIA

NESTLE HEALTHY KIDS PROGRAMME: PROJECT JAGRITI

This programme aimed at hitting the root cause of stunting in children, i.e., Malnutrition.
According to the Global Nutrition Report, 2020, India is among 88 countries likely to
miss Global Nutrition Targets set to be achieved by 2025. It is reported that 37.9% of
children under 5 years are stunted and 20.8% are wasted, compared to the Asia average of
22.7% and 9.4% respectively. One in two women of reproductive age is anaemic.

These are the reported figures even when the government is running parallel schemes along
with many CSR initiatives like these by the corporate houses. Therefore, schemes like these
become extremely important especially when our economy has come to standstill and
inequality levels are rising by the minute.
DETAILS ABOUT THE PROJECT

As mentioned above, it targets malnutrition amongst children, adolescents, pregnant women

and lactating mothers. For this, it has partnered with MAMTA Health Institute for Mother
and Child.
It focuses on creating awareness through peer-to-peer support and with the help of ASHA
workers:

1. About early initiation of breastfeeding, exclusive breastfeeding, and about

improving the quality of breastfeeding practices;
2. Menstrual and General Hygiene, improving mental and physical health;
3. Gender equity norms, the importance of family planning, sexual and reproductive
health etc.
A subset of this project was launched in 2009. The ‘Nestle Healthy Kids Programme’
promotes adolescents’ nutrition, health and well-being. It promotes understanding the value
of sports and exercise, balanced diet, general hygiene etc via two modes-

1. Classroom sessions in partnership with six regional universities; and

2. Partnering with Magic Bus Foundation; pioneer of ‘Sports for Development’
model.

PROJECT SERVE SAFE FOOD

Nestle has partnered with the National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) and
national and local food authorities to launch Project ‘Serve Safe Food’. The project has been
launched to train street food vendors on maintaining general and food hygiene, clean and
sustainable food storing techniques, food handling tips, waste disposal management and
entrepreneurial skills.
They are taught to inculcate the habit of regular washing of hands, usage of gloves and
kitchen caps, techniques of disinfecting utensils and storage boxes, proper washing of fruits
and vegetables etc. After the training is complete, they are given a hygiene kit and a
certificate stamped by Nestle. These vendors are also encouraged to propagate what they’ve
learnt with fellow vendors and visiting customers. Till now, over 20,000 vendors across 17
States/UTs have been benefited from this programme.
PROJECT VRIDDHI (RURAL DEVELOPMENT)

This project was launched as a collaboration with SM Sehgal Foundation in a village called
Rohira in District Nuh, Haryana. The three-year pilot project aims at improving the quality of
drinking water, promoting sustainable agricultural and irrigation methods, teaching tricks and
techniques to maximise production, combating gender inequality by promoting a healthy
learning environment in village schools, teaching the importance of good sanitation practices
like using toilets, menstrual hygiene etc.

PROJECT HILLDAARI (PLASTIC WASTE MANAGEMENT

AWARENESS CAMPAIGN)

The HILLDAARI movement is an initiative of Nestle India to promote cleaner and

sustainable hill towns especially the ones which receive high tourist footfall like Mussoorie,
Nainital etc. Nestle realised that one of its bestsellers is also a major pollutant in the hill
stations i.e., empty Maggi packets and took it upon themselves to clean it up. So, it motivated
the citizens of the town to collect waste and inhabit a culture of waste segregation, so that it
can be recycled and reused. As per this initiative, the tourists are encouraged to adopt
responsible tourism and not litter around the place and if possible, carry their waste back
home.

It is one of the flagship initiatives by Nestle where it promotes a collective sense of

responsibility and ownership. HILLDAARI as a form of ‘Zimmedaari’ towards our mother
nature is what the company stands for. Apart from creating awareness about scientific
methods of waste disposal, local artisans are not only taught to craft something out of the left-
over waste like Maggi Packets and Water Bottles but also sell it for monetary gain.

This CSR project continued to function during the pandemic whereby people were trained in
techniques for safely disposing medical waste along with teaching them and encourage them
to propagate following of COVID-19 appropriate behaviour, like regular washing of hands,
social distancing, usage of masks, gloves and PPE kits, and methods of sanitization.
WATER CONSERVATION PROGRAMMES

Nestle India is committed to saving water by making the best possible use and they believe
that charity begins at home. As a matter of fact, they’ve altered their production methods and
reduced the generation of waste water by 49% and water usage by about 53% per tonne of
production. This is completely in line with Nestle’s global guidelines on providing clean
water to people across the world.

WASH PLEDGE

The ‘WASH at the Workplace Pledge’ was launched by WBCSD in 2013 to implement its
Action 2020 Water strategy. Nestlé is a founding member and was among the first signatories
to the WASH Pledge. As a co-chair of the Pledge, the company provides strategic input and
support to the WBCSD’s work programme on access to water, sanitation and basic hygiene.

WATER PRODUCTIVITY MAPPING OF MAJOR INDIAN CROPS

Under this pilot initiative, Nestle India targets two crops ‘Sugarcane’ and ‘Rice’, the
cultivation of which requires a lot of water. During this process, a lot of water is wasted
owing to unsustainable irrigation practices ultimately leading to water scarcity. Even though
we are blessed with perennial rivers, we must not forget that we primarily have an agrarian
economy and we also have to conserve water to cater to the ever-growing population.

To develop and create awareness about sustainable irrigation practices, especially for these
two crops, Nestle has partnered with AgSri in Karnataka on the Kabini River Basin. The
initiative will engage agriculturists in sustainable practices of System of Rice Intensification
(SRI) and the Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative (SSI) to reduce agricultural water withdrawal
and improve agricultural productivity.
GOOD AND WELL-PLANNED SANITATION PROGRAMMES

Nestle believes that furthering the government’s cause of ‘Swachh Bharat Abhiyan’ is not
only their duty as being part of the responsible corporate citizenry of the country but an
endeavour to provide access to good health to the community. It is a way to give back to the
people of India, who have always put immense trust in the company.
To achieve their motive, they’ve launched various CSR initiatives which involve the
construction of proper toilets in public places, government schools, in and around their
factory premises and in the living quarters of their labourers.
Also believing that education is a basic right that an individual should get irrespective of
gender, it constructed separate toilets for girl children where it was noticed that girls do not
go to school because of lack of clean toilets. Till 2019, the Company has been able to benefit
over 200,000 female students by setting up sanitation facilities in over 600 government
schools.

NESTLE INDIA’S APPROACH TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE

DEVELOPMENT GOALS

With a vision to have a world free of poverty, inequality, pollution and the wrath of climate
change by the year 2030, 17 Sustainable Development Goals were adopted by the UN in
2015. Nestle has been making its contribution to make this global dream a reality.
With its policies targeting individuals and families, communities and the planet; it focuses on
ending poverty and inequality by providing healthier lives through good nutrition, safe
drinking water, and a well-planned sanitation system. Also, its projects involving training
local artisans, agriculturists and roadside street vendors are in line with the Skill India
Mission, which is a massive step taken by the Government of India to create job opportunities
and thus minimize poverty to zero in coming years.

Looking at the planet perspective of the company, its projects like Project HILLDAARI
(waste management project), water conservation programmes and encouraging the use of
traditional and climate-resilient crops for a better yield with minimal wastage of resources is
worth appreciating.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research methodology is the specific procedures or techniques used to identify, select,

process, and analyze information about a topic. In a research paper, the methodology section
allows the reader to critically evaluate a study's overall validity and reliability.

PRIMARY DATA

Primary research is data which is obtained first-hand. This means that the researcher conducts
the research themselves or commissions the data to be collected on their behalf. Primary
research means going directly to the source, rather than relying on pre-existing data samples.

SECONDARY DATA

Secondary research, also known as desk research, is a research method that involves
compiling existing data sourced from a variety of channels. This includes internal and
external courses.

METHOD OF STUDY

The data has been collected from secondary online data sources while keeping in mind the
objectives of the study. The secondary data was collected through company’s official
website, various other websites and online sources.
CONCLUSION

Nestle India has taken wonderful and innovative CSR initiatives to work shoulder to shoulder
with the Indian Government to bolster the economy as well as well being of Indians. From
cleanliness drives to water conservation programmes to Nutrition help programmes. The
company has done it all and impeccably so.
We often take the value of CSR policies and activities lightly. For most of us, it’s a mere
formality that a company must do in order to comply with the 2013 Act. While it’s true that
companies and business houses are often set up to earn profits, a little gratitude to the less
privileged won’t do any harm. Instead, it will considerably amp up the reputation of the
company and Nestle is proof.

Final comments
Nestlé has a solid CSR program, creating a positive public perception of its operations,
quality, and goodwill through the halo effect. The current analysis did not explore the
controversies surrounding the company, well explained by the Company Man (2022) and
others, because that was not the goal, but such information would be a good supplement for a
more concise understanding of Nestlé's public perception. It seems important to stress that
Nestlé's CSR and overall public relations (PR) activities effectively overshadow a wave
of backlash against some unpopular business decisions in developing countries. For
instance, the company contributes to water scarcity in some areas, and the CEO once said that
water should not be a human right (Company Man, 2018). Thus, Nestlé should strengthen its
CSR strategy further for this reason and because Nestlé is facing CSR competition for the
best reputation, as Sekhon and Kathuria (2019) explained in the case of Nestlé in India.2