Integrating community work into the strategic intent of our business operations has been something that our patriarch Jit Paul focused on and this same belief has been carried forward by current generation of the Paul family.

With the extension of our business footprint in Odisha, we felt responsible for doing something about one of the key issues of this region – the lack of education.

In 2010 Apeejay Trust funded the Education and Literacy initiatives run by the Chinmaya Organisation for Rural Development (CORD ), an NGO that has had a strong presence in this region for several years.

The Literacy Initiative aims at creating a strong education support system for the socially disadvantaged through a network of tuition centres, educational activities, computer literacy courses and adult literacy support programmes in Lathikata, Odisha. We have a long association with CORD, having enabled the sustenance and growth of their programme in Tamil Nadu in the past, and we were happy to support their efforts in Odisha.