Hyundai Motor India sets an example for manufacturing companies across the country with its extensive and impactful social programs ranging from tree plantations to e-health in rural areas.
14 Jun 2025 | 2712 Views | By Kiran Murali
In Andhra Pradesh's tribal region, 50,000 fruit-bearing trees now grow across 240 acres of once-barren land, creating incomes for over 120 Chenchu families. In a reclaimed forest patch near Chennai, more than 5,500 native trees stand tall, where illegal dumping once thrived. In Gurgaon, a waste-to-energy facility recycles 7 tonnes ...
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In Andhra Pradesh's tribal region, 50,000 fruit-bearing trees now grow across 240 acres of once-barren land, creating incomes for over 120 Chenchu families. In a reclaimed forest patch near Chennai, more than 5,500 native trees stand tall, where illegal dumping once thrived. In Gurgaon, a waste-to-energy facility recycles 7 tonnes of garbage daily, reducing over 144,000 kilograms of carbon emissions. And in classrooms across rural India, students sit at desks made from Hyundai's repurposed shipping crates.
These are not isolated stories of CSR tokenism. They are part of a broad national effort—a series of established, ongoing programs run by Hyundai Motor India through its Creating Shared Value (CSV) strategy, reaching communities across 27 states. In FY2025 alone, Hyundai disbursed Rs 3.38 crore in scholarships to over 780 deserving yet economically disadvantaged students, trained hundreds of youth in electric mobility and vocational skills, supported para-athletes and blind cricketers, and committed to planting one million trees across industrial belts in Maharashtra.
It also began work on a 5.5-acre technical academy near its Chennai plant that will skill 5,000 youth annually—preparing them not just for factory jobs, but for entrepreneurship and life beyond the assembly line. "We're not here to tick boxes," says Puneet Anand, Associate Vice President and Head of Corporate Affairs and Social Responsibility at Hyundai Motor India.
"We're here to create shared value—for society and ourselves." This rethinking of corporate responsibility is not accidental. It is the product of Hyundai's evolution in India—from a manufacturing upstart in 1998 to a national stakeholder today, contributing not just to GDP and jobs but also to education, environment, and equity.
CSR into CSV
Hyundai's social commitment didn't begin with India's mandatory CSR law in 2014. It started earlier—in 2006—with the creation of the Hyundai Motor India Foundation (HMIF). The move, Anand says, reflected Hyundai's belief that corporate responsibility wasn't about charity, but continuity. "We weren't responding to a law—we were responding to a responsibility," he explains. "In India, if you want to be relevant for the future, you must be part of the larger solution."
Today, HMIF runs under Hyundai's CSV philosophy—Creating Shared Value—a structured approach built around three pillars: Hope (education, scholarships, culture), Mobility (skilling, driving livelihoods) and Earth (afforestation, water, waste). These pillars link to Hyundai's global vision: "Progress for Humanity." However, the company states that in India, that vision has taken on a more local flavor.
Hyundai Culture
One of the key programs is the Hyundai Hope Scholarship, launched in 2024 to support talented but underprivileged students preparing for UPSC, CLAT, State Public Service exams, or entrance into IITs. In its first year, the scholarship received over 44,000 applications nationwide.
After an evaluation, 783 students were selected and awarded financial support. “This isn't a one-time award. It's a commitment to walk alongside them year after year," says Anand. "We want to bring continuity, not just opportunity." Another initiative under "Hope" is Art for Hope, a cultural revival program that supports rural and differently abled artists with training and financial grants.
From reviving endangered art forms to restoring ancient musical instruments, the program brings economic dignity to creators often left out of the mainstream. Starting with 30 artists in its first year, it now supports over 50 individuals and 10 collectives annually. "There's more to upliftment than giving money. We're giving people identity, relevance, and the tools to sustain their craft," Anand adds.
Hyundai Future Pathways
India's skilling challenge is well known, and Hyundai is investing to be part of the solution. The Hyundai Academy for Technical Skills, currently under construction near its Chennai plant, is among the company's significant initiatives in this regard. Spread across 5.5 acres, the facility will provide extensive training—not only in automotive repair and diagnostics, but in entrepreneurship, tailoring, road safety, and microindustries such as food processing.
In urban India, Hyundai's Drive4Progress initiative has already helped hundreds of unemployed youth acquire commercial driving licenses and placed them in EV-based fleet jobs with partners like BlueSmart. Run in partnership with the Navjyoti Transforming Lives & Careers Society, the program will reach 1,500 youth across five states in three years. The company also gives stipends and on-thejob training to young graduates entering the job market.
Advancing Green Change
Perhaps the most notable of Hyundai's initiatives is its environmental commitment, which has gone beyond plantation drives and into ecological restoration. In Chennai, the Ionic Forest—once a wasteland riddled with illegal activities—has been transformed into a healthy green zone, with 5,500 native trees and active community maintenance. In Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, Hyundai helped tribal families plant 50,000 fruit-bearing trees, creating an economic ecosystem in a drought-prone region.
In Maharashtra, the company has pledged to plant one million trees in 2025. Water conservation is equally critical. In Tamil Nadu and Gurgaon, Hyundai has revived ponds once clogged with sewage, turning them into community resources. Similarly, in Maharashtra's Gadhchiroli district, one of India's least developed regions, Hyundai set up 100 RO systems in schools, providing clean drinking water to thousands of children. "These aren't side projects," Anand clarifies. "They are investments in stability, in community goodwill, and in our future as a sustainable business."
At its Ecogram facility in Gurgaon, Hyundai is piloting a practical waste management solution. In partnership with Saahas Zero Waste and the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram, the plant processes 2,000 kg of wet waste and 5,000 kg of dry waste every day. It also serves as a learning hub for schoolchildren through Hyundai's Arthshala environmental education program. Elsewhere, the company recycles its own wood packaging into 5,000+ school benches and desks annually, serving government schools across India.
Health and Inclusion
During the pandemic, Hyundai launched the Sparsh Sanjeevani initiative—55 telemedicine clinics and 10 mobile vans across 11 states delivered essential healthcare to rural areas when hospitals were overwhelmed. The service continues to operate in several zones. Through the Hyundai Samarth initiative, the company also supports para-athletes, blind cricketers, and other differently abled achievers by providing training, competition, and access to professional resources. Other ongoing programs, such as Vidya Vahini (school development) and Sports Lab (youth engagement), round out a diverse portfolio of community-focused investments.
Beyond the spending, Hyundai's programs have a structure, scale, and sustainability that mark a shift from checkbook charity to impact-oriented planning. In a world where institutional trust is fragile, environmental risk is rising, and communities are demanding more than lip service from corporations, Hyundai India's CSV model stands out. "We're not perfect," Anand admits. "But we're learning, adapting, and evolving. Because the only way forward is together." For India Inc., Hyundai's journey offers a clear lesson: In the decade ahead, shared value will be more than good optics—it will be good business.
Hyundai Taps AI
The automobile industry is no stranger to automation, having been one of the first to incorporate the use of robots. But now, Hyundai Motor India has gone one step further, empowering the robots with artificial intelligence to carry out tasks that they were simply not equipped to earlier. Many of the 790 or so robots working at its Sriperumbudur facility now come with AI, giving them novel capabilities. An example is the AI-powered exterior confirmation system.
Earlier, operators manually inspected car parts against specifications — a time-consuming and an error-prone process. With a tablet-based interface and barcode scanning, the AI system verifies over 30 exterior parts in under a minute with near-zero error rates. "This ensures consistency in quality without relying on the operator's memory, significantly improving the inspection process," points out Gopala Krishnan CS, Chief Manufacturing Officer, Hyundai Motor India.
Hyundai has also introduced vision-based robots for engine inspection, leveraging highspeed cameras to automate quality checks further. These solutions not only reduce fatigue but also enhance precision and reliability. However, it is not just the products that get the attention of AI, it’s also the machines in the factory. The company has implemented a predictive maintenance system in the plant.
By placing sensors on robots, fans, and drop lifters, Hyundai collects data on pressure and vibration, which is processed using R and Python to predict failures before they occur. “These AI-ML tools help us avoid unplanned breakdowns and improve efficiency,” said Krishnan, adding that dozens of data projects are now undertaken annually across maintenance, supply chain, and quality functions. The upcoming plant in Talegaon, Maharashtra will be at par with any other Hyundai plant worldwide regarding software integration, IoT usage, and AI implementation.