Oxfam’s private sector work

Shared Value Partners Meet

New Delhi

19 November 2015

Erinch Sahan

Namit Agarwal

Forces for Responsible Business

1. Power

Of workers,

communities &

farmers

2. Government

3. Consumers

4. Investors

Oxfam’s Engagement with Business

Supporting / running companies engaging with existing companies

What do we assess?

Public & Investor Engagement

•700,000 consumers speak up

•Investors ($1.4tn of assets under management) engage

companies to improve

How and Why India Responsible

Business Index• The Ministry of Corporate Affairs launched the National

Voluntary Guidelines (NVGs) 2011

• Securities and Exchange Bureau of India (SEBI) made

NVG disclosures compulsory for the top-100 companies

• Corporate Responsibility Watch , Praxis and Partners in

Change developed Disclosure Matters series highlighting

disclosures on corporate-community engagement

• An index of the top 100 companies listed in India was

developed by CRW, Oxfam India, Praxis and PiC

The index aims:

• To encourage companies to disclose more

information.

• To encourage companies to make policies on the

issues that respect the intent of the NVGs

India Responsible Business Index

www.responsiblebiz.org

Key Findings• Companies seemed to be relatively highly invested in

community development and reasonably committed to

employee dignity and certain forms of non-discrimination of

the workplace

• Companies appear to find it more of a challenge to ensure

a responsible supply chain

• 61 companies do not recognise the inclusion of local

suppliers, and only 4 have shared a commitment to procure

raw products at a price that is fair.

• In the element of community as business stakeholders as

many as 94 companies are in the “low” band, not a single

company is in the “high” band

• Policies of 71 companies recognise the need for prior

impact assessments, and 2 companies have policy

requirements to make their reports available in the public

domain.

Engagement Opportunities in India• Looking at business responsibility in a context which is

broader than CSR

• Better policies and disclosures

• Pushing towards a level playing field in business

responsibility

• Informing business decisions

• Informing investment decisions

• Strengthening inclusive business models

THANK YOU!

namit@oxfamindia.org