2. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) is an Indian public sector
oil and gas corporation owned by Ministry of Petroleum and Natural
Gas , headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra.
The corporation operates two large refineries of the country located
in Kochi and Mumbai.
The company is India's 2nd largest downstream oil company and is
ranked 275th on the Fortune list of the world's biggest corporations as of
2019. BPCL ranked 672 in the Forbes 2018 list.
From a ₹ 673 crore turnover company in 1976, it is now a ₹ 243,476
crore turnover group.
The company business is divided in seven SBUs( Strategic Business
Units), like Retail, Lubricants, Aviation, Refinery, Gas, I&C and LPG.
3. MILESTONES
1993 — BPCL entered into its first joint venture with Shell Overseas Investments BV of Holland to form Bharat
Shell Ltd, to market Shell lubricants and LPG.
1993 — BPCL signed a JV with Oman Oil Co to launch Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd for setting up a 6-MMTPA
refinery in Bina, Madhya Pradesh.
1995 — BPCL was declared a ‘Schedule A’ company.
2002 --- BPCL wins SILVER SHIELD ICAI Award for best presented Accounts 2000-01
2004 — BPCL in “THE WORLD BEST BIG COMPANIES “ by FORBES
2005 ---“AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE” the best woman executive by NPMP
2006 — A wholly-owned subsidiary company, Bharat PetroResources Ltd (BPRL), formed with an authorised capital
of ₹1,000 crore for carrying out exploration- and production-related activities.
2007 --- Safety Innovation Award 2007 for Kochi refinery
2008 --- BPCL recognised as “BUSINESS SUPER BRAND 2008”
2017 — BPCL received Maharatna status.
2019 — On November 21, the government approved privatisation of BPCL.
2020 — The government invited bids for the sale of its 52.98 per cent
stake in the company.
4. • BPCL’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) vision is, “be a model corporate entity with social responsibility
committed to energizing lives through sustainable development”.
• The corporation has been carrying out CSR activities for over two decades. It started as a one time
welfare activity and slowly transformed into sustainable CSR projects. Thus, over a period of time, from
humble beginnings, CSR initiatives scaled up to enabling sustainable development and livelihoods.
BPCL’S CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR)
5. EDUCATION
CSR of BPCL believes education is a basic right of children and a tool of empowering them for India’s future. The nation is
nothing without its children’s growth and prosperity, both of which are impossible without quality education. This is the
reason quality education is a core thrust area. The CSR Department monitors successful programmes across units and scales
them to be replicated on a larger canvas. In this manner, it has been successful in educating 8 lakh students through its
programmes. There are two flagship education programmes in progress: CAL and Saksham
1. Computer Assisted Learning (CAL)
CAL is a flagship CSR project of BPCL for digital literacy of deserving school students. CAL
has made 1 lakh kids literate in Uran, Lucknow, Mumbai and Jaipur since it was
launched. Digital literacy has become all the more crucial in the wake of COVID-19 and
the lockdown induced by the pandemic.
2. Project Saksham
Saksham is another flagship project that works towards empowering school principals
and teachers, who do the thankless job of educating rambunctious children, day after
day. Government school teachers are especially in need of help since they do not get the
benefit of upgrading their skill and knowledge base regularly.
6. Water Conservation-
Lack of water leads to various societal ills, including dehydration, water-borne diseases, improper sanitation and hygiene. A sustainable
economy is impossible without access to water. Water is of paramount importance for survival itself. Keeping these universal truths in
mind, Bharat Petroleum CSR has made rigorous attempts to improve water security in rural areas.
BPCL CSR activities in healthcare are aligned to SDG 3: Good health and well being through its value-driven healthcare
initiatives. Free medical care and treatment, improving the existing healthcare infrastructure and reaching out to cancer
patients and PwDs in need form the main components of CSR in health here.
Of special note in the healthcare initiatives affordable cancer care in Darrang, situated in Assam. It is designed to offer
everything from early detection and cancer screening to treatment with palliative care.
Healthcare-
Project BOOND
BPCL initiated Project BOOND in 2010 to turn water-scarce villages into water-positive places. In the
last 10 years, BOOND has made 280 villages water-positive through rainwater harvesting, drip
irrigation, and water retention measures that preserved this precious natural resource. So effective
was the programme that it won international acclaim – Asian CSR Award and the SKOCH Silver
Award.
7. Skill Development-
BPCL CSR has made the government’s ‘Skill India’ programme a priority. It is setting up more Skill Development Institutes
(SDI) than ever before, in order to empower the youth and disenfranchised towards Atmanirbhar Bharat. The courses in
the Kochi SDI are aligned to the centre’s National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) with affiliation to various Sector
Skill Councils and NSDC. Last year alone, SDI at Kochi trained 312 youth. There is a proposal to set up a second SDI
campus in Kerala where 1,000 new students will get training every year. The various SDI upskills and reskills people from
aspirational districts with a focus on unemployed youth, PwDs and women. Young people with leprosy are made
employment-ready; 792 such youth were trained in technical skills last year. The visually impaired are trained in
acupressure and massage at the SDI in Latur.
Rural Development -
BPCL CSR initiatives are behind the major rural development and infrastructure in districts like Gadchiroli in Maharashtra. These
undertakings essentially are meant to empower the people at an individual, family, village and community level. A needs assessment
survey at the beginning establishes the unique needs of every rural area.
From providing clean drinking water for free, establishing new modes of livelihood for residents, setting up libraries where children
and grown-ups can read at leisure, to central kitchens where food is available for all, the activities are integrated to benefit each place
in a sustainable manner.
8. • India was on a slow yet steady trajectory towards sustainable development, with NITI Aayog acting as the
planning and monitoring body. COVID-19 swept in uninvited and became the biggest obstacle to global and
national development. It’s a case of two steps forward, one step back. Statistics already showed our lack of
preparedness for Zero Hunger and Gender Equality. With the pandemic showing no signs of bowing out, we are
no closer to achieving the SDGs by 2030. However, public sector enterprises can play a significant role in
recharging social progress in the subcontinent. BPCL CSR projects have been doggedly collaborating with various
government ministries, nonprofit organisations and other implementing agencies to achieve sustainable
development.
• For example, under the government’s ‘Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana’ (PMUY), the Bharat Petroleum corporate
social responsibility division enrolled 90 lakh new LPG consumers in the last financial year. This brings the sum
total of LPG connections under the PMUY scheme to a whopping 2 crores! The company’s employees contributed
Rs. 4.27 crores from their own salary in the fight against COVID-19.
BPCL’S CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY DURING COVID-19
PANDEMIC
• The energy sector leader prides itself in having responsible corporate citizenry. Its
commitment to corporate social responsibility (CSR) and Nation Building is a no-
brainer. For example, BPCL CSR recently put India on the international map again,
with the World’s First Seven-Coach Hospital Train.
9. CSR SPEND
A look at the spends on community development projects in the last 5 years shows that BPCL has not met the prescribed
amount. While central public sector enterprises like NTPC and Indian Oil have either met or exceeded the budget, Bharat
Petroleum is among the PSUs to default on complying with the prescribed annual spend in relation to the annual profits.