BKT, a leading brand manufacturer in the global Off-Highway tire market, has adopted a sustainable production and business model since its establishment. Profound social responsibility has always guided the corporate decisions, focusing their attention on people and their well-being in compliance with labor standards. The company aims at reducing waste and pollution by means of autonomous structures in terms of energy efficiency and environmental impact, in order to ensure a good quality of life to its employees.
“If the BKT values represent the rich heritage of our traditions, today's challenge is that of preserving continuity and transforming them into a lifestyle”, Mr. Arvind Poddar, Chairman and Managing Director of Balkrishna Industries Limited (BKT) states. – „BKT's mission is to establish this model within the organization, being fully aware of the fact that this cannot be achieved in the short term. However, it is certainly important not to lose sight of this intent, creating an environment where these values are really oriented towards the common good.”
A declared commitment actually reflected in perceptible behavior and concrete actions. In particular, this includes the latest production site in Bhuj, in the State of Gujarat, which was inaugurated at the beginning of December 2015 after an investment of 500 million US dollars. It is an autonomous state-of-the-art production plant representing at the same time a brilliant example of a “social factory”. The site comprises a housing colony for the employees, where they can live with their families benefiting from free services and facilities for the community, such as a hospital, a fire station, a large recreation center, a school, a guest house, etc.
Ethics and social responsibility aiming at the common good are supported and patronized by the BKT Foundation which funds numerous projects and initiatives of different nature and origin. In healthcare, the foundation has donated to the hospital of Aurangabad a surgical intensive care unit and financed the importation of technologically advanced devices for the treatment of patients with heart and respiratory diseases for a hospital in Mumbai. In order to support the elementary right of education, the foundation has financed a free educational program for 800 girls in a school in the State of Rajasthan, near the production plants of Bhiwadi and Chopanki in the north of India, as well as the post-secondary education of brilliant Indian students at prestigious institutions, both in India and abroad. The BKT Foundation actively sustains the Akshaya Patra Foundation, an organization cooperating with the Indian Government to ensure education to disadvantaged children, keeping them away from the street and taking them to school. The Akshaya Patra Foundation has implemented a substantial school meal program providing lunch to more than 1.4 million of children in 10,000 schools spread over ten Indian States, with the intention of fighting against hunger and malnutrition contributing to education at the same time.
Not only are these essential values deeply rooted in the company's history, they also influence the entire BKT community. This is reflected in the employees' individual involvement in sensitizing initiatives such as the annual Mumbai Marathon for charity fund raising or blood donation campaigns.
In a recent project, at the International trade fair of FIMA in Zaragoza, Spain, 10,000 footballs were distributed, in cooperation with the partner San Jose. On this occasion, a contribution of one euro per football, went to ASPANOA, a Spanish association that helps families with children suffering from cancer.
“In BKT, sustainability derives on the one hand from the awareness of the disadvantages suffered in a large part of the world, and on the other hand from the firm intention to play an active role in improving the living conditions of all people. A mindset that starts in the production processes with low environmental impact, goes through the working community and the civil society, and finally becomes manifest in the actual support of humanitarian activities.”, Ms. Lucia Salmaso, AD of BKT Europe states. - „A noble conduct with the ambitious objective to point the way for other companies operating at any level and in any market. This is the only way we can think of our future and that of the next generations.”
And yet, it is about awarded and “certified” sustainability, since the company has been working in full compliance with environmental regulations such as the European Directive “REACH”, adopted by the chemical industry to improve the protection of human health and the environment. The company has obtained the ISO 9001:2000 certifications for its Quality Management System and is ISO 14001:2004 certified for the implementation of an effective Environmental Management System.
BKT has been awarded by the Indian Government with the National Energy Conservation Award for three consecutive years, an acknowledgment for those companies that distinguish by their natural resource management.
BKT's history has been recently collected and published in a booklet entitled “BKT. Committed to Growth”. In this volume, the company describes its initiatives, its social and environmental commitment, its values and objectives based on the three Ps: People, Profit, Planet. If these three factors are in perfect harmony, all efforts turn into mutual success.
