Ballarpur Industries Ltd. (BILT), India’s leading paper manufacturer and flagship of the US$ 3 billion Avantha Group, has been named one of the top 10 companies to undertake active CSR initiatives in a study conducted by TNS India and The Times Foundation. In this national level study, leading business houses and public sector organizations have been rated on various parameters defining the role and importance of CSR.

Commenting on the survey findings, Mr. R.R. Vederah, Managing Director BILT said, “It is heartening to be recognized for our efforts. At BILT, we believe in engaging with our stakeholders and employees to ensure the sustainable development of the people and communities we work with, and the environment in which we operate.”

Ms. Yashashree Gurjar, Head–CSR, BILT added, “We have a holistic CSR policy that is linked to the overall development of the communities and the environment. BILT is one of the very few organisations that have aligned their CSR initiatives with the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals.”

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About Avantha:

The US$ 3 bn Avantha Group is one of India’s leading business conglomerates. Its successful entities include BILT, Crompton Greaves, Global Green, Avantha Power & Infrastructure, Solaris ChemTech, Salient Business Solutions, and Avantha Technologies. International subsidiaries include Pauwels, SFI, Intergarden, Ganz, Microsol and Sonomatra.

The Group has business interests in diverse areas including power transmission and distribution equipment and services; paper and pulp; energy and infrastructure; food processing; farm forestry; chemicals; infrastructure, IT and ITES. Led by Mr. Gautam Thapar, Avantha demonstrates strong leadership globally and emerges as a focused corporate, leveraging its knowledge, leadership and operations, adding lasting value for its stakeholders and investors. The Group is on an aggressive growth path, with a targeted turnover of US$ 10 bn and a market capitalization of US$ 25 bn by 2013.

About BILT

Ballarpur Industries Limited (BILT), part of the US$ 3 billion Avantha Group, is India’s largest manufacturer of writing and printing (W&P) paper. BILT’s subsidiaries include Sabah Forest Industries (SFI), Malaysia’s largest pulp and paper company, and BILT TreeTech Limited (BTTL), which runs BILT’s farm forestry programme in several states in India.

BILT has six manufacturing units across India, which give the company geographic coverage over most of the domestic market. BILT has a dominant share of the high-end coated paper segment in India. The company accounts for over 50% of the coated wood-free paper market, an impressive 85% of the bond paper market and nearly 45% of the hi-bright Maplitho market, besides being India’s largest exporter of coated paper. BILT is the only Indian paper company to feature among the global top 100 – its ranking having been elevated to 87 with SFI’s acquisition in 2007.

CSR at BILT

As part of its CSR, BILT works with more than 200,000 people living in remote parts of the country on a wide range of issues including livelihood enhancement, health and education. Formation and strengthening of community-based organisations like self help groups and youth groups, andcapacity building thepanchayat members are an important focus of the programme. The company offers skill training and also helpscommunities set upsmall enterprises through the provision of micro finance at the village level. BILT’s CSR initiatives have been widely recognized, and have been conferred with various awards, including TERI Award for CSR (2003-04), Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) Award for CSR (2005-06), Businessworld FICCI- SEDF CSR Award (2005-06), Asian CSR Award (2005-06), Golden Peacock Global Award for CSR in Emerging Economies (2007), Intel - AIM Corporate Responsibility Award (2007) and TERI Corporate Award for Business Response to HIV/AIDS (2008).