DCB Bank
Initiatives related to water, waste management, renewable energy, recycling and disaster relief are among the focus areas of DCB Bank’s corporate social responsibility policy. In the past year, its CSR initiatives went from strength to strength, making it the winner of the India CSR award for 2022.
At the height of the coronavirus pandemic in India, in August 2020, the private-sector commercial lender identified a water-harvesting project in the Cuttack district in the eastern state of Odisha.
By March 2021, the project’s first phase was completed. The result was an improvement in water resources that benefitted nearly 2,800 households directly, and about 13,800 members of the community indirectly.
That impact only encouraged DCB, which is led by managing director and chief executive Murali Natrajan. The first phase involved completing a water-harvesting structure in the Kantapanhara village, as well as cleaning two ponds at the Hanasbhuin and Balipada villages.
Water harvesting enabled farmers to start drawing water for a second crop season and meet other farming needs.
DCB’s CSR team immediately started work on phases two and three of the project.