Corporate Social Responsibility Policy

1. Introduction

Cybage Software Pvt. Ltd. (hereinafter referred as “Company”) has been an early adopter of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Reaching out to underserved communities is a part of the Company’s ethics. The Company has always conducted its business responsibly, mindful of its social accountability, respecting applicable laws, and with regard for human dignity. The Company’s vision is ‘to actively contribute to the social and economic development of the communities in which we operate’ and in doing so, build a better, sustainable way of life for the weaker sections of society and raise the country's human development index.

It is the moral responsibility of every successful corporate to set objectives that are congruent with social development to repay its social debt. The Company underlined its commitment towards the all-round development of the marginalized sections of the society and brought about a positive change by setting up CybageAsha in October 2003 and Khushboo Charitable Trust in July 2009.

These philanthropic initiatives have taken up meaningful educational and socio-economic drives aiming at the upliftment of the less fortunate for a better society. While CybageAsha’s main programs are Rural Upliftment, Alcohol De-addiction, Social Welfare, and Go-Green initiatives, Khushboo facilitates higher education for needy students through scholarship programs and educational counselling. These efficacious activities are executed independently with the help of Cybagians who volunteer their services or in partnership with other NGOs under the able guidance of Cybage’s senior management.

2. Objective

In compliance with Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013, along with the Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rules, 2014, the CSR activities we pursue are approved by our CSR committee. In line with the activities mentioned in Schedule VII of the Act, our CSR policy, as approved by the CSR Committee, contributes to the group-wide goals by adopting projects in the following areas:

• Promotion of education
• Environmental sustainability measures
• Social business projects
• Rural development projects
• Livelihood enhancement projects
• Others, as may be identified in future

3. Focus areas and the activities therein

The Cybage CSR activities focus on:

• Rural Development: CybageAsha first identifies villages that need social, infrastructural, economic improvement. Our process begins with interaction with the villagers and village panchayat, during which we discuss a high-level plan. Going further, CybageAsha conducts socio-economic assessment surveys with participation of all the villagers. After analyzing the data gathered, we set priorities for each task and start the development work. The types of development initiatives that we provide are:
  1. Construction of schools
  2. Distribution of educational material to students
  3. Construction of drainage systems
  4. Construction of lavatories
  5. Tree plantation and cleanliness drives
  6. Periodic health camps
  7. Installation of smokeless chulhas
  8. Provision of vermiculture compost training
  9. Inauguration of water tanks
  10. Stream de-silting to increase groundwater levels
  11. Advice and motivation to villagers to improve practices related to agriculture, community health, sanitation, and cleanliness
  12. Collaboration with villagers and local government for effective implementation of various government programs such as Swachh Bharat Abhiyaan

• Alcohol De-addiction: CybageAsha, a registered Trust supported by the Company, is currently running alcohol de-addiction centers in four communities.

CybageAsha visits the community areas to identify the addicts with the help of locals. The Alcohol De-addiction initiative was started to combat the evils of alcoholism, especially in the low-income groups. Taking into consideration that many communities faced the same issue, we chose communities in the vicinity to spread awareness about the evils of alcoholism and motivate people to lead an alcohol-free life. This is how the CybageAsha De-addiction Centers started out in various communities. We are continuously conducting the following activities in various communities:

1. Promotion of de-addiction in communities through the following media:

o    Street plays

o    Poster exhibitions

o    Pamphlet distribution

o    Issue-based movie screening activity

o    Individual and family counseling sessions

o    Exposure visits

o    Felicitation of recovering addicts

o    Women’s counselling

2. Interaction with addicts to help them lead an addiction-free life:

o    De-addiction centers set up in various communities

o    Provide free weekly counseling services

o    Provide free medication to the registered patients

o    Conduct continuous follow up visits to motivate them to lead an alcohol-free life

• Go-Green: The Go-Green initiative focuses exclusively on addressing various environmental issues, generating awareness, and conducting various eco-friendly activities, such as:

o    Tree plantation drives at various locations around the city

o    Awareness about the conservation and optimal utilization of natural resources through the Go-Green week in the Company

o    Promotion of eco-friendly products

o    Implementation of eco-friendly practices in the Company

o    Distribution of saplings to employees

o    Promotion of solar energy

• Social Welfare: Through Social Welfare initiatives, CybageAsha supports underprivileged children with educational material, disburses medical aid to the poor, and visits old age homes and orphanages. CybageAsha has also introduced a program to provide financial aid to the deprived during medical emergencies. Following is a list of the activities conducted by CybageAsha:

o    Edutainment activities such as drawing and elocution competitions for underprivileged children

o    Christmas parties for children from communities

o    Blood donation drives in the Company

o    Various drives such as toy donation, cloth donation, book donation

o    Entertainment activities for old age homes and orphanages

o    Reader’s Club and book recording activities for visually impaired students

o    Braille book development for blind students

o    Infrastructural assistance to NGOs

• Khushboo Charitable Trust (CybageKhushboo): A self-sustained NGO and the philanthropic arm of the Company, CybageKhushboo believes in the power of education. Right from its inception, CybageKhushboo has been constantly providing financial aid to economically backward but promising students to help them fulfill their educational aspirations and secure a bright future. It is relentlessly engaged in scalable educational projects to mold promising careers.

CybageKhushboo grants scholarships to meritorious students coming from economically weaker sections of the society to help them pursue professional courses in Engineering (degree and diploma), Medical and related courses such as Pharmacy, Dentistry, Homeopathy, and Physiotherapy.

4. Execution

The Company strives to implement the aforesaid CSR activities on its own to the extent possible. The implementer of the Company’s CSR activities will continue to be its registered Trusts—CybageAsha, Khushboo Charitable Trust. The corpus for carrying out the aforesaid activities is funded by the Company. This includes:

• 2% of the average Net Profit made by the Company during the immediately preceding three financial yearsas per Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013, along with the Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rules, 2014.
• Any income arising therefrom.
• Any profits generated therefrom, if any, shall not be treated as profits of the Company.
• The Company shall undertake CSR activities to the best possible manner and execute all activities in conjunction with this policy and provisions of the applicable statutes. However, in the event the Company shall not be in a position to execute such activities as guided by the CSR committee, the same shall be executed through its registered Trusts.

5. CSR Committee:

As per rule 5 of the Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rules, 2014, the following are the Directors who shall be the members of the CSR committee. Approved vide Resolution dated June 18, 2015, passed in the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company.

• Arun Nathani, CEO & MD Cybage and member across all verticals
• Ritu Nathani, Director, Cybage, and Member across all verticals

Other committee members along with their responsibility areas are as follows.

Responsibilities:

• Formulate and update the CSR Policy, as and when applicable
• Suggest areas of intervention to the board of directors
• Approve projects that are in line with the CSR policy
• Put monitoring mechanisms in place to track the progress of each project
• Recommend the CSR expenditure to the board for approval
• Meet at least twice a year to review the progress made
• Allocate, approve, and monitor budgets allocated for each project

6. Governance and monitoring structure

The Company, through its registered Trusts, can undertake CSR activities as per the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013. Accordingly, these Trusts shall support the Board and work closely with it and the CSR committee in implementing CSR activities of the Company. The CSR Committee will assist in identifying the areas, programs, and execution of initiatives as per defined guidelines. The CSR committee will deliberate on the proposals and approve or reject them at its discretion. The financial approvals shall be done by the Director trustees of the respective trusts.

The CSR committee shall institute a transparent monitoring mechanism for implementation of CSR projects or activities undertaken by Cybage. Time frames and suitable milestones shall be fixed for all CSR projects or activities.

7. Location

All CSR projects and activities under this policy shall be undertaken in India. The CSR committee shall decide on locations for implementation of the CSR projects and activities.

8. Budgets

As set out in the Companies Act, 2013, Cybage shall allocate a budget for the CSR initiatives for every financial year equivalent to 2% of its average net profits made during the previous three financial years.

A specific budget shall be allocated for each CSR activity. This budget shall be project-driven. The total budget for the CSR projects shall be decided by the CSR committee.

9. Treatment of surplus

Any surplus generated from CSR projects or activities undertaken by the Company shall be tracked and channelized into the Company’s CSR corpus. These funds shall be further used in the development of CSR projects and shall not form part of the business profit of the Company.

10. Reporting of CSR initiatives

The CSR committee of the Company shall periodically consider the progress report on the various CSR initiatives. Details of the CSR activities undertaken by the Company and the expenditure along with the reasons for the expenditure below budgeted levels, if any, shall also be reported in the Company’s Annual Report under the Directors’ Report in the format as indicated in the Companies Act, 2013. The activities taken up the Company shall be displayed on the Company’s website.

This policy shall be reviewed and updated from time to time as per amendments to the applicable statutes.

11. Contact

For any clarification or query relating to the CSR Policy, please contact:

Prashant Mahamuni

Associate Manager-CSR,

Email: csr_team@cybage.com

Mobile: 9657702907

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