The Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman presenting the National CSR Awards to Sarika Minda, chairperson, Spark Minda Foundation along with Aakash Minda, CEO and MD, Minda KTSN Group at a function, in New Delhi on October 29, 2019. The Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs, Anurag Singh Thakur and the Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Injeti Srinivas are also seen.

The Spark Minda Foundation, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Minda Corporation, and the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) wing of the component manufacturer won the National CSR Award (NCSRA) 2019.

The award was presented by Ms Nirmala Sitharaman, Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs in presence of the President of India Ram Nath Kovind for its outstanding CSR initiatives under the Category III – for the contribution to National Priority Area and the sub-category of differently-abled community support on Tuesday, October 29, 2019 in New Delhi.

The company says this award is the highest recognition in the domain of CSR by the government of India. The award was received by Ms. Sarika Minda, chairperson, Spark Minda Foundation along with Ashok Minda, chairman and Group CEO, Spark Minda Group and Aakash Minda, CEO and MD, Minda KTSN Group.

Commenting on the award, Ashok Minda said, “out of 528 entries It is of utmost pride for us to be recognised for our excellent CSR initiative ’Project Saksham – empowering persons with disability’ under third category of the most prestigious CSR award of the country- The National CSR Award (NCSRA). The Award is a testimony to the relentless efforts and dedication of the our CSR team towards limb fitment, facilitating disability certification, up skilling of approximately 6,500 differently-abled people across the globe from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Jammu & Kashmir, Indonesia and Vietnam in principal collaboration with 30 NGOs, Sector Skill Council of PWD, CII, ASSOCHAM and India Business Disability Network.”

The National CSR Awards has been instituted by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India to recognise corporate initiatives in the area of CSR to achieve inclusive growth and sustainable development. These awards are said to be the highest recognition in the CSR domain by  the government of India. This year 528 entries were received for NCSRA, and the Jury shortlisted 131 companies who were invited for detailed submissions, which were then followed by field verification of the claims made by the companies.

Based on the submissions by the companies and reports of the independent assessment by CSR experts, Jury recommended 19 winners and 19 honourable mentions across the three award categories.