Corporate Social Responsibility :

As Milton Friedman’s adage goes, “The business of business is business”. Over time, this view has drastically changed. In fact, if you look at the recent Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence held in January 2011, India Inc. is taking philanthropy to the next level, by integrating social issues into their business strategies. This highlights the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), not just as an act of benevolence, but to sustain the creation of wealth in the corporate context. “The size of endowments has changed remarkably in 2010, making the world sit up and take notice,” says Pranab Mukherjee, Finance Minister (India). We, at Premier, have not only kept in line with this trend, but have also been ahead of our time in some aspects.

Reflecting the vision of the Vinod Doshi group, Premier’s Chairman and Managing Director, Mr. Maitreya Doshi, who is also managing trustee of the ‘Shri Lalchand Hirachand Premier Trust’, a public charity trust named after the eminent industrialist. The group donates every year to support education, health and cultural activities. Premier Ltd. does not contribute company funds towards the Trust’s corpus. The two activities are kept separate. While Premier’s focus is to create stakeholder value, our CSR initiatives focus on our people and of course, a greener planet (something that we all need to invest in today). Last year, saw several such initiatives from both the Trust and Premier Ltd. in these arenas :