Chairman’s Message
The safety of our people has always been our top priority. At Ambuja, we consider Health and Safety to be an integral part of our social outlook. While environmental practices constitute the greater part of our sustainable focus, the spectrum of employee welfare is equally significant. And that’s why this year’s overarching theme is Health and Safety.
I am delighted to present Ambuja Cements’ 10th special edition Sustainable Development Report for 2016. Based on the latest GRI Standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI), this report celebrates a decade of innovative sustainable development business practices, around the philosophy of sustainable growth. By looking back over the past decade, we can chart our journey of sustainability, and how it has been integrated into the operations and functions of the company.
We constantly strive to evolve and address our stakeholder concerns and meet their expectations. However, we have always maintained that growth is not only measured through the economic value we generate but also through the value and gains that we create for society. I take great pleasure and a sense of pride that our CSR arm, Ambuja Cement Foundation (ACF), has consistently gone beyond the legal mandate of 2% average profit spend on community initiatives.
With a portfolio of various projects in the field of education, skill and infrastructure development, health and sanitation, agro/skill based livelihood etc., the company has been able to reach out to over 1.8 million people across 21 locations in 11 states. Thus positively contributing to their lives since the day we embarked upon this journey “to energise, involve and enable communities to realise their potential”.
Managing and developing operations in the second biggest cement market of the world requires a clear thought process and determination towards responsible use of resources (both natural or man-made), and we are proud to have made significant progress on that front. In a time when water scarcity is a critical issue, we improved upon our status of being 4 times Water Positive to become over 5 times Water Positive, and aim to raise those numbers even higher in 2017. Ambuja Cements has always maintained the rigour to learn and implement new technologies and innovative process improvements to produce sustainable product solutions.
The commitment to drive sustainable solutions for better building and infrastructure, and to contribute to a higher quality of life, has positioned the Group to meet the challenges of increasing urbanisation. With our enduring focus on safety, sustainability, efficiency, quality, along with the support of several Government of India’s initiatives like Make in India, Housing for All, and Digital India, coupled with our people’s ‘I Can’ spirit, I am confident our company will scale new heights and set a global benchmark for the industry.
I invite valuable feedback from our readers, for us to achieve even higher standards in different areas of sustainable development. On behalf of the Board and the employees of our company, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our valued stakeholders for their generous support and encouragement.
