What are the material issues the company has identified? 

In its 2021-22 Sustainability Report DCM Shriram identified a range of material issues, such as climate change, cost optimization and profitability, health and safety, solid waste management. Among these, creating economic value for its stakeholders stands out as a key material issue for DCM Shriram.

Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards              

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:

“The reporting organization shall identify its stakeholders, and explain how it has responded to their reasonable expectations and interests.”

Stakeholders must be consulted in the process of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.

Key stakeholder groups DCM Shriram engages with:

To identify and prioritise material topics DCM Shriram engaged with its stakeholders through the following channels:

Stakeholder Group	Method of engagement
Employees	·      Emails, meetings and intranet portals ·      Induction programmes/ trainings / workshops ·      Performance appraisal reviews ·      Employee satisfaction surveys ·      Employee engagement programmes ·      Grievance redressal mechanism ·      Trade union meetings
Shareholder & Investors	·      Annual General Meeting ·      Exclusive section in corporate website ·      Annual Report ·      Newsletters and social media platforms ·      Regular business interaction ·      Grievance redressal mechanism
Customers	·      Emails and meetings ·      Market surveys ·      Customer surveys ·      Plant visits ·      Grievance redressal mechanism
Suppliers, Dealers & Distributors	·      Annual Meet with suppliers and customers ·      Emails and meetings ·      Plant visits ·      Other interactions on a regular basis
Farmers	·      Need based regular interaction ·      CSR function ·      Awareness camps on good agricultural practices ·      Farmer training programmes and workshops
Local Communities	·      Open dialogue with local communities ·      Need assessments ·      Awareness meets and health camps ·      Celebration of cultural festivals / occasion (Environment day, Safety day etc.) ·      Public hearing for greenfield / expansion projects
Civil Society	·      Collaboration of various CSR projects ·      Discussions on community issues with civil society organisations
Government & regulatory bodies	·      Regular inspections ·      Periodic statutory reports ·      Regular direct and indirect interactions through industrial associations and other bodies
Industry Associations	·      Meetings, seminars, workshops
Media	·      Advertisements / promotions ·      Press conference / press releases ·      Interviews of senior management

What actions were taken by DCM Shriram to create economic value for its stakeholders?

In its 2021-22 Sustainability Report DCM Shriram reports that it took the following actions for creating economic value for its stakeholders:

• Creating economic value for employees
• In FY 2021-22, DCM Shriram spent INR 783.29 Crore on defined employee benefit plan obligations and other retirement plans.

• Creating economic value for shareholders
• In FY 2021-22, DCM Shriram paid INR 212.08 Crore in dividends.

• Creating economic value for the state
• In FY 2021-22, DCM Shriram paid INR 498.85 Crore in taxes.

• Creating economic value for communities
• In FY 2021-22, DCM Shriram spent INR 17.425 Crore in community investments.

Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?

The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed

Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed corresponds to:

• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
• Targets: 8.1, 8.2
• Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
• Targets: 9.1, 9.4, 9.5

 

78% of the world’s 250 largest companies report in accordance with the GRI Standards

SustainCase was primarily created to demonstrate, through case studies, the importance of dealing with a company’s most important impacts in a structured way, with use of the GRI Standards. To show how today’s best-run companies are achieving economic, social and environmental success – and how you can too.

Research by well-recognised institutions is clearly proving that responsible companies can look to the future with optimism.

7 GRI sustainability disclosures get you started

Any size business can start taking sustainability action

GRI, ISEP, CPD Certified Sustainability courses (2-5 days): Live Online or Classroom  (venue: London School of Economics)

• Exclusive FBRH template to begin reporting from day one
• Identify your most important impacts on the Environment, Economy and People
• Formulate in group exercises your plan for action. Begin taking solid, focused, all-round sustainability action ASAP. 
• Benchmarking methodology to set you on a path of continuous improvement

See upcoming training dates.

References:

This case study is based on published information by DCM Shriram, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following link:

https://www.dcmshriram.com/docs/sustainability-report/sustainability-report21-22.pdf

Note to DCM Shriram: With each case study we send out an email requesting a comment on this case study. If you have not received such an email please contact us.