Our ESG initiatives are guided by the SRISHTEe framework (namely the 'Sharing Responsibilities to Integrate Social, Human, Technological, Environmental and Economical Capital' framework), which addresses six smart pillars: Carbon, Water, Energy, Nitrogen, Knowledge, and Weather. Our ESG initiatives include:
- Providing supply chain management training to small holder farmers and agronomical practices, ESG and human rights, In Fiscal 2024, we distributed 80 solar sprayers to women farmers, reducing their reliance on fuel-based sprayers.
- Conducting 'human rights assessments' at commercial vegetable cultivation sites in Koppal, Karnataka, which cover aspects such as working hours, payment of wages, working conditions, awareness regarding the safe use of pesticides, prevalence of bonded and child and forced labour with regard to applicable regulatory requirements, performance standards prescribed the International Finance Corporation and the applicable International Labour Organization requirements.
- Waste management practices at our premises.
- Tree plantation drives across India. As of September 30, 2024, 4,362 trees were planted.
- Water resource management initiatives, including adoption of smart irrigation practices to reduce water consumption for DSR, achieving a 30% water savings; spraying pesticide through drones to save up to 64,032 kilo liters of water; and rainwater harvesting in our research farms.
- Climate change-related initiatives, including the generation of 228.98 MWh of green power through the conversion of 266.63 MT of discarded seeds; the collection and disposal of 160.25 MT of plastic waste in Fiscal 2023; installation of solar streetlights at our plant in Gowdavally, Hyderabad, our R&D facility in Aurangabad and our Corporate Office; and installation of 15 kW solar panels at our R&D facility in Bengaluru, Karnataka and a 30 kW solar PV generator on the rooftop of our QA Facility.
- Focusing on building a diverse and inclusive workforce. As of September 30, 2024, 6.10% of our permanent employees are women. In Fiscal 2024, 5.58% of the growers farmers in our supply chain were women; and
- Promoting safe and fair working conditions across the supply chain, particularly for the women workforce at our Company, including through implementation of an incident management system application for our employees, and conducting mock drills.
