Creating value for all our stakeholders by entering into partnerships with NGOs is, to us, the most enduring measure of business success. One such NGO that we partnered with and are truly proud of, is New Light, located at Kalighat, Kolkata, a five-minute walk from Nirmal Hriday, Mother Teresa´s home for the dying destitute. This is one of the oldest red light areas of Kolkata, home to sex workers from the city and from neighbouring countries like Nepal and Bangladesh. Needless to say, the children in this area do not even have the bare minimum, in terms of education and nutrition. To help them break out of the cycle of exploitation we felt an urgent need to provide educational and nutrition interventions.

We found an excellent partner in New Light, a nonprofit charitable trust that runs a crèche-cum-night-shelter to protect and educate young girls, children and women at high risk.

New Light runs its programmes with a high level of commitment. In our Centennial year, we decided to fund New Light in order to strengthen their reach and efficacy and help them enhance their effort towards providing safe shelters, educational opportunities, recreational facilities, healthcare and legal aid for the children, girls and women in their community. It is a matter of great pride for us that children from this area have benefitted from these interventions and have gone ahead and built their lives with confidence.