Dr Reddy's plans CSR cells in East

Dr Reddy's Foundation, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm of pharmaceutical major Dr Reddy's Laboratories, was looking at setting up specialized centres in north-eastern states and West Bengal for enhancing its CSR initiatives.

Jitendra Kalra, chief executive officer (CEO) of Dr Reddy's Foundation, said, "Setting up development centres in north-eastern states and in West Bengal is among our initiatives, apart from usual programmes we carry out."

The organisation has about 165-odd centres across the country, with a dedicated workforce assisting in training the unemployed to help them finding gainful employment. West Bengal had five development centres now and the foundation aimed to scale it up to eight development centres. The company was scanning the market with the help of employees and the government machinery like block development officers (BDOs) and district collectors to get an overview about the market of any particular state.

Performance of hospitality and retail sectors, for example, was evaluated, to identify skills that could be developed.

Most of the training provided at development centres was related with generating employment mainly in the customer relationship and sales sectors, added Kalra.

Three such development centres were to be established in the state by the end of this month.

Apart for generating urban employment, the organisation aimed to replicate other models to tap rural areas and generating rural employment.

This apart, programmes and initiatives on sanitation, street dwellers and healthcare had been initiated and around 30 vocational courses were being taught by the organisation through its 165 centres across the country in partnership with various government agencies. Dr Reddy's Foundation had revenue of Rs 10 crore in 2007 and was looking at a budget of around Rs 11 crore this fiscal.