HCL Foundation to spend Rs100cr to prop up NGOs in social push

HCL Foundation today said it will spend Rs 100 crore over the next five years to support NGOs and social leaders implementing projects for upliftment of the country.
As part of its initiative, HCL Grant, in its first year, the winning NGO will receive a grant of Rs 5 crore.
"The Foundation launched HCL Grant, an initiative to support NGOs and individual social leaders who are implementing projects for upliftment and development of the country," it said in a statement.
A sum of Rs 100 crore would be spent over the period of next five years through this initiative, it added.

Six finalists have been selected from a pool of over 400 NGOs from across the country for the initiative. The winning NGO would be announced on January 18.
HCL Foundation said while in the first year, HCL Grant is being given to one NGO in the education sector, in the subsequent years, NGOs and individual social leaders from the area of healthcare and ecosystem development would also be eligible to win individual grants of Rs 5 crore each.

"Through HCL Grant, our aim is to support NGOs by institutionalising the processes and frameworks and also recognise contributors for the upliftment of India," Board Member, HCL Technologies and Chairperson of Jury, HCL Grant Robin Abrams said.

Highlighting the initiative, Sundar Mahalingam, Chief
Strategy Officer, HCL Corporation said, "We are proud to bring HCL Inter-School Tennis Challenge to Chennai for the first time. Chennai has been the cradle for Indian tennis. Some of India's legendary tennis players such as Vijay Amritraj and Ramesh Krishnan call this city home. The tournament received a tremendous response in Delhi last year with over 70 leading schools and 250 students from Delhi NCR participating in this tournament. We are sure that we will be able to replicate the same magic now in Chennai."
Mahesh Bhupathi, 12-time Grand Slam Champion and Managing Director at MBTA said, "We are happy to associate with HCL once again as the brand totally supports sports and has been taking initiatives to promote tennis. Together we hope that the elaborate structure of the tournament will ensure that the young tennis prodigies play some tough and enthusiastic games and prepare themselves to face bigger challenges.