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Cover Story

Cover Story

Premier's 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 over Rs 1 crore every year to support education, health and

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Erica de Souza Head - Corporate Communications, Premier Ltd,

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. Let’s take a trip down memory lane to visit some of these milestones in the arenas of the Arts & Culture , Education, Industry and Community Welfare.

Industrial Intervention The IMTMA (Indian Machine Tool Manufacturers’ Association) Vinod Doshi Outstanding Entrepreneur in Machine Tools’ Award

This award, instituted in memory of the late Mr Vinod Doshi, one of the founding fathers of IMTMA and the IMTEX tradebased exhibition, is given to someone who has shown an outstanding record of first generation entrepreneurship in building machine tool companies in India. This person is chosen by an awards committee constituted solely for this purpose, comprising eminent persons from the industry. On January 21, 2010, the first IMTMA – Vinod Doshi Outstanding

Entrepreneur Award was given to Mr Antony Rasquinha, Chairman, Electropneumatics & Hydraulics (India) Private Ltd. Pune. Once again, the Doshi family’s vision has been a fertile ground for talent and hard work to be recognised & appreciated.

The award was presented on January 20, at IMTEX 2011.

Look out for the special coverage of IMTEX 2011 in the next issue of the Premier Journal.

Mr. Antony Ransquinha receiving the ‘IMTMA- Vinod Doshi Outstanding Entrepreneur in Machine Tools’ Award from Dr. R. Chidambaram and Mr. Jamshyd Godrej

Premier participates in Corporate Social Responsibility - Industry Interaction

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On September 18, 2010, Ms Erica de Souza, Head - Corporate Communications, Premier Ltd, was a panelist at an industry interaction on the topic of “Corporate Social Responsibility”. Issues related to CSR were discussed and debated.

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The event was organised by Bharati Vidyapeeth University’s Amplify Mindware – Department of Information Technology.

Erica de Souza a panelist at the Amplify Mindware CSR Industry Interaction

Here are some organizations that Premier supports through sponsorships

Confederation of Indian Industry

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Social & Community Initiatives Premier Strides Towards a Greener Planet

With the Indian Forest Conservation Ministry’s mounting concern on deforestation, the corporate world is opting for ‘greener’ alternatives in existing operations. Premier has contributed to this theme by: 1.

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Adding more trees to the planet through its ‘Grow more Trees Campaign’. Taking the initiative to make the planet a greener place, Premier planted various tree saplings in Pune. The factory, itself, currently has around 1400 plants growing around its campus.

Proactively switching over to environmentally friendly packaging of machinery, aligned with international packaging standards. Premier has pioneered the use of alternative resources in packaging heavy machinery. The traditional practice of using timber has been replaced with metal-based materials such as steel

and aluminum, after considering the pros and cons of the machine size, weight and taking into account the protective aspects of the material as well.

Go Green with Premier

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Energy conservation is done by:

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Continuously monitoring and maintaining our plant’s power factor to 1.00 (Unit) power on a daily basis

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Clubbing air compression into a grid format, thereby saving 22000 KWH per month

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Installing new energy efficient T5 lights and transparent sheets (for added natural light) in our vehicle assembly line

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Educating our employees through on the job training to use electrical energy efficiently

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As per MPCB requirement, the Company has installed the Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) and waste water is recycled and is used for our garden.

Similarly we have also created a new Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) system for separation of waste oil & coolant & same water is again recycled for garden use.

Donate Blood- Save a Life

Blood is a life saving fluid and is priceless. We, at Premier, organised our own blood donation drive on March 20, 2010 (the birthday of the late Shri Vinod Doshi, founder and former Chairman of Premier Ltd). The response was overwhelming and employees from across the company came forward to contribute towards saving lives. The drive yielded great results with 129 units of blood collected. This collection was then given to Sahyadri Hospital, Pune.

Premier employees saving lives by being blood donors

Premier Culture: We are Family – A story which says it all While performing his duties on the shop floor, Mr Bhimrrao Munde, who was then a contractual work man at Premier, met with a very unfortunate accident. His hands got entangled in the machine he was working on, which led to profuse bleeding and ultimately the loss of his left hand. While accidents on the job are not desirable by any company, it is often a psychologically devastating experience for the patient as well as family and loved ones, who need support during such trying times.

“Premier is not just my organisation, it is my family” - M D Adhikari, President, Premier Ltd.

One such person who understands this better than anyone is Mr Adhikari, our President. “Premier isn’t just my organization, it’s my family” says Adhikari.

Mr. Munde got immediate medical attention at the nearest hospital. Mr Adhikari, on behalf of Premier, was constantly there to support him and his family, not just monetarily, but also emotionally. Regular visits and constant communication with the doctor saw Mr Munde and his family through this ordeal.

Bhimrrao Munde Even more heartening was, that the company not only paid all his dues, but Today, Mr Munde is married, content and also gave him computer and soft-skills settled in his new life. He gives complete training and took him on as a permanent employee in the administration department. credit to Premier for having rehabilitated him.

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CHIP (Children in Pain) Launched in 2004, CHIP Mumbai works to address the lack of quality education in schools for the underprivileged in Mumbai, through several social interventions. These include pre–primary Balwadis and primary after school programs (for example theatre, art programs, study classes, computer classes, among others). One such initiative, the ‘After School Program’ (ASP), run by CHIP, got our Trust’s attention. We were keen to be a part of the program that provides a safe and supportive environment for these children.

The program is supervised by adults and offers various growth enhancing opportunities that contributes to their holistic development.

Premier supported the following in 2010: • A theater workshop for 60 children from the Oshiwara Municipal Schoo, aging 10 to 12 years.

• Judo classes for 60 children aging 10 to 12 years.

• A summer holiday camp • Weekly dance classes with the Shaimak Davar Victory Art foundation • A girl child’s empowerment program

CHIP participating in various activities.

Apne Aap Women's Collective (AAWC) Leena (named changed) has lived with being HIV + since birth. She had been going through relapses of herpes for over a year. Due to the bureaucratic red tapism of government hospitals, her treatment kept getting postponed. She is also the daughter of a prostitute mother, who works in Falkland Road area, Mumbai’s largest red light district.

The Apne Aap Women’s Collective (AAWC) is an NGO working with brothelbased prostitutes and other marginalised women and their children in the Falkland Road area since 1998. The collective runs

two programs, for the children of women in brothel-based prostitution, called ‘Udaan’ (aimed at providing education, vocational skills, recreational activities, medical care, psychological counseling, nutritious meals and job placements to enable their all round development) and ‘Umaang’, a complete day care centre for toddlers between 2-6 years. The Shri Lalchand Hirachand Premier Trust has supported both these programs for the last three years. Through the Trust’s support, Apne Aap has been able to extend the hours and the scope of Umang

Apne Aap organizing a medical camp for the children

with noticeable improvement in toddlers’ health, fewer children suffering from skin diseases, lack of sleep, and stomach problems.

Today, thanks to the empathy of the doctors associated with Apne Aap, Leena’s treatment is being done privately.

She was one of our Umang beneficiaries, now she is going to school and is in the Udaan program. She is recovering and gaining weight. Her mother gets monthly groceries to feed her.

Growth through education

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Art and Culture The Conservation Act Trust

-tells the untold story of India’s forests The main objective of the Conservation Act Trust is to educate and enlighten decision makers and the public about the importance of forests for our survival.

Following an original film ‘Inside India’s Forests – Seeing the Wood for its Trees’, which tells a story of protecting our environment, this subsequent film, funded by the Shri Lalchand Hirachand Premier Trust, shares the inconvenient truths about India’s forests.

The film is directed by Gurmeet Sapal, a New Delhi- based filmmaker, whose wildlife and environmental films have been sensitising viewers (especially children) since 1998 when he graduated from IIMC. His repertoire of films include “Leopards in the Lurch”, which won a special mention from the jury at Vatavaran in 2007 and his debut film, ‘Chasing Butterflies’ – a natural history film on the beauty of butterflies and

Gurmeet Sapal - Director their role in the ecosystem, which won the best film award at Vatavaran in 2002 & was shown to lakhs of children all over India.

The film is projected to be launched around February 2011.

Encouraging Talent in Theatre

through The Vinod Doshi Fellowship in Performing Arts

In 2009, I directed four plays and wrote two. I guess that’s what Vinod Doshi Fellowships of Sahitya Rangabhoomi Pratishthan can do to you…

Vinod Doshi Fellowship in Performing Arts - 2010-2011 Ms. Anita Date, Mr. Nipun Dharmadhikari, Mr. Dharmakirti Sumant, Ms. Puja Sarup, Mr. Shashank Shende accompanied by Dr. Sarayu Doshi Every year, in memory of the legendary Shri Vinod Doshi, the Trust, along with Sahitya Rangabhoomi Pratishthan, bestows the Vinod Doshi Fellowship in Performing Arts on five upcoming artists in the domain of Hindi and Marathi theatre.

On February 28, 2010, a cash reward, of Rs 1 lakh per recipient, was awarded by Dr. Mrs Saryu Doshi, wife of Late Mr. Vinod Doshi who is a renowned art historian. The award amount helps meet the artistes’

monthly living expenses for a year, thereby freeing them to focus on their creative pursuits.

Puja Sarup expresses her gratitude by saying, “I am a full- time theatre practitioner, living on my own in Mumbai.

It is a very exciting and challenging life.

Along with the satisfaction and joy of doing what I do, I also have my phases of self doubt, financial crunches and creativity blocks.

Unconditional support gives you a kind of positive responsibility to do your best and that is the amazing part of this fellowship.

-Manav Kaul It was in one such self-doubting phase that I got to know about the Vinod Doshi Fellowship awards. It was the time when I was seriously thinking of putting theatre on hold for a little while. So for me, more than anything else the fellowship was a sign that I was on the right track and I have to patiently move forward, without giving up…”

Cover Story

2nd Annual Vinod Doshi Theatre Festival As a mark of respect to our founder Chairman, the late Shri Vinod Doshi, who was passionate about theatre, this annual theater festival has been sponsored by Premier Ltd. since 2009. The idea was we make Hindi and Marathi theatre experience accessible, to as many enthusiasts as possible.

In 2010, the event was held over a period of 5 days, from March 22 - 26. The three Marathi plays and two Hindi plays selected for the event were showcased in Mumbai at the NCPA auditorium and Ravindra Natya Mandir auditorium and were repeated in Pune at Yashwantrao Natya Mandir auditorium.

An overwhelming response was received for the event. The festival was open to the public at a very nominal fee. Look out for exclusive coverage on the 3rd Annual Vinod Doshi Theater Festival in the next issue of the Premier journal.

Geli Ekvis Varsha

Katkon Trikon Director : Girish Joshi Writer : Dr. Vivek Bele

Director : Aalok Rajwade Writer : Dharmakirti Sumant

S*x, M*rality & Cens*rship Director : Sunil Shanbag Developed by : Shanta Gokhale and Iravati Karnik

Katyar Kaljat Ghusali

Director : Ravindra Khare Writer : Purushottam Darvekar

Afsane: Bai Se Bioscope Tak Director : Akarsh Khurana Writer : Purva Naresh

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Educational Initiatives College of Engineering, Pune

- An Alliance with Premier Ltd. and Shri Lalchand Hirachand Premier Trust My father strongly believed in supporting technical education in India and wanted students to have high-quality facilities to improve their knowledge.

- Mr Maitreya Doshi,

Chairman, Premier Ltd & Managing Trustee

The Production Engineering Workshop was inaugurated on January 4, 2011 by Mrs. Supriya Sule, Lok Sabha MP, Baramati After an alliance which commenced several years ago, the Trust donated Rs 2 crore to the College of Engineering, Pune (COEP) to modernise and renovate their production engineering laboratory.

The laboratory is named "Vinod Doshi Memorial Production Engineering Workshop", in memory of the late industrialist and the former chairman of Premier Automobiles Ltd., Mr. Vinod Doshi.

Mr Maitreya Doshi, chairman of Premier Ltd and managing trustee said, “My father strongly believed in supporting technical education in India and wanted students to have high-quality facilities to improve their knowledge.”

The 138-year-old lab has been fully upgraded and equipped with state-of-the-art CNC machines, some of which have been provided by Premier’s machine tool division.

Dignitaries at the Vinod Doshi Memorial Production Engineering Workshop

The COEP faculty and students are very excited about this new lab.

According to Kanad Saha, third year mechanical engineering student,

“Earlier, we worked with German-made traditional lathes. But now we are able to work on CNC machines. We can now implement all the theories that we have learnt about CNC machines. Even the workshop environment has drastically improved after the renovation. Our workshop is now more in line with industry conventions.”

Earlier, we worked with German-made traditional lathes. But now we are able to work on CNC machines. We can now implement all the theories that we have learnt about CNC machines. Even the workshop environment has drastically improved after the renovation. Our workshop is now more in line with industry conventions now.

- Kanad Saha, Third year mechanical engineering student

Cover Story

Dignitaries at the press conference

The laboratory was inaugurated on January 4, 2011. To grace this auspicious occasion was imminent Lok Sabha MP from Baramati, Mrs. Supriya Sule.

Additionally, the Doshis have also instituted five annual scholarships called the Vinod Doshi COEP Merit Scholarships, for students with strong academic credentials, but severe financial need.

Each scholarship, of Rs 2.5 lakh, covers the student’s entire tuition fee, lodging, boarding and course material required during the four-year degree program.

The only condition is that they maintain their academic performance, failing which, the scholarship will be withdrawn.

The students are selected by the COEP faculty and the Trust is not involved in the process.

The recipients are offered a paid summer internship at Premier’s factory in Chinchwad for the four years at his/her option. “We get to manually work on various machines, which helps breathe life into the theories we learn in the classroom. The line managers are not only well-versed in the field, but also patiently supportive through our learning process,” says Anirudha Kulkarni, third year B.Tech

A word of appreciation by COEP to the Trust for the philanthropic deed

Production Engineering student, who also trained in the Machine Tool Division.

On the successful completion of his/ her degree, the student is also guaranteed a job at Premier Ltd. The choice of accepting this offer, however, is left to the student with no obligation imposed by Premier or the trust.

What’s more is that Premier also preempted the need to properly train the COEP faculty about the operation and functioning of these machines. To serve

the purpose, a training program was conducted at the factory for the production department staff, to impart detailed operational information of the new CNC technology.

During the training in June 2010, they went through CNC programming, part programming, machining operations, maintenance of machines, safety measures and new concepts in engineering.

COEP Engineering Graduates express their gratitude to Premier Ltd.

Abhinav Kshirsagar, Trainee Engineer -Automotive, R&D

Premier is the best company for engineers like us to start with, as it provides us opportunities to explore and implement new ideas at work.

The I Suggest scheme of Premier is very useful for young engineers like us.

Premier is an ocean of knowledge for me. The best thing I like about it is the comfortable working environment that I have got being a girl. I am lucky to be associated with Premier.

Sushma Kedare Trainee Engineer - Machine Tool Division, Materials

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The Vinod Doshi Educational Scholarship - A Step Forward On the occasion of the visionary Vinod Doshi’s 75th birthday, 20th March 2007, an educational scholarship scheme entitled the ‘Vinod Doshi Educational Scholarship (VDES)’ commenced.

According to this scholarship, every year 10 needy and deserving children of Premier employees are aided with a sum of Rs. 75000 each to pursue their future education.

As the tradition follows, this year 7 children were awarded the VDES scholarship at the factory premises by Mrs. Supriya Sule

(Member of the Parliament). These students were selected by a special committee, taking into consideration various criteria.

Awarded to 7 Students in 2010 -11 Jabir A. Kazi Sarfraz A. Shaikh Vinay V. Hiwarkar Komal K.Rane Sachin D. Waghmode Sayali S. Jadhav Madhuri D.Pawar

Shri Lalchand Hirachand Premier Trust presents scholarships in association with the American Alumni Association

Shri Lalchand Hirachand Premier Scholarships provide opportunities to talented young people from economically weaker sections of India, to further educate themselves so that

they might make a difference to their society and country. Scholarships of Rs. 1 lac each were awarded to 5 meritorious students for further studies in the U.S.

Ved Vignan Maha Vidya Peeth

Ved Vignan Maha Vidya Peeth is an educational charitable Trust founded by H H Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Founder of The Art of Living Foundation, to provide holistic value-based education to the underprivileged children. The school project that was initiated with 30 students in 1981 a better hope for A ray of ct ile’ proje ‘Gift a Sm

today provides education to over 13,700 children in 121 schools from 17 states of India. 95% of these children are first generation literates and the school has a 0% drop out rate. The school facilities, which are given free to children includes books, uniform, mid-day meal and

e rough th future th

The following are the meritorious students who have received the scholarship.

Anant Bhardwaj - Stanford University Kaustabh Jadhav - University of Southern California Akshay Mote - Michigan Tech University Saudamani Dabak - John Hopkins University Delma D'Silva - University of Pittsburgh

transport, among other things. Shri Lalchand Hirachand Premier Trust is a part of the donor family that facilitates in educating some of the children through the “Gift a Smile” donation project. This contribution is used to give formal education to the children.

Healthy mind- Healthy body

Unleashing talent at Ved Vignan Maha Vidya Peeth

Send us your feedback about our Corporate Social Responsibility to Ms. Erica de Souza, Head - Corporate Communication at ericadesouza@premier.co.in. We look forward to your comments.