CSR is an integral component of Tata Steel’s business strategy and the overseas group companies have been working towards improving the quality of life in their respective areas of operation.

Initiatives in Europe

UK Steel Enterprise, a subsidiary of Tata Steel-Europe, has been providing funding and infrastructural support for the economic regeneration of communities for the last 30 years. The total financial support amounts to over £72m, with over £50m in direct investments. This has enabled more than 4,500 businesses to flourish and created more than 70,000 new job opportunities.

Community drug and alcohol abuse is 30% higher in the towns of Port Talbot and Neath than in the rest of Wales – and, in turn, is 30% higher in Wales than in the rest of the UK. Tata Steel joined forces with the Gwent Alcohol Project, West Glamorgan Council on Drugs and Alcohol Abuse, the Community union and key contractors. Almost all our employees at Port Talbot and Llanwern attended two-hour alcohol and substance awareness sessions during 2008, and almost 200 line managers underwent training in how to spot and deal with possible drug or alcohol-related issues.

Initiatives in Australia

NatSteel Australia Pty Ltd launched its pilot CSR leave project in 2008-2009, which allows staff to pro-rate one day leave per year to carry out activities with their adopted charities. Financial help extended by the Company includes:

• Donation of $5000 to the Victorian Fire Appeal for the victims of bush fires in Victoria.
• The Sports and Recreation Club of NatSteel Holdings raised $ 53,500 for the purchase of a modified van for the physically challenged.

Initiatives taken in other parts of the world

• NatSteel Xiamen Ltd. (China) gave an RMB $ 160,000 cheque towards benefit of Sichuan earthquake victims.
• An RMB $ 80,000 cheque was donated to the same cause by employees of NatSteel Xiamen Ltd.
• The Wuxi Jinyang Metal Products Company donated RMB 120,000 for Sichuan earthquake victims.
• The Siam Industrial Wire Company Ltd. (Thailand) undertook several improvement initiatives under the Watdonchan School Project.
• NatsteelVina Co. Ltd. (Vietnam) extended financial support towards flood relief in Bac Giang and Vinh Phuc provinces.
• Tata Steel Thailand provided rebars for the Yuwawitsawakornbopit 36 Bridge Construction Project operations.
• Tata Steel Thailand also arranged an environmental conservation camp for 50 students.

In the Netherlands Tata Steel has developed an educational programme, Techniektorens, designed to encourage children aged 4-12 to become interested in technology. In South Wales Tata Steel works with local schools to educate children about industry and raise awareness of their future career options.

Tata Steel has endowed a chair of Metallurgy in the Department of Materials, Science and Metallurgy at the University of Cambridge, UK. The Chair was inaugurated in November 2008 and Dr. Harry Bhadeshia, a world-renowned expert on the physical metallurgy of steels, is its first holder.

In 2009 Tata Steel Thailand donated ‘book corners’ to 15 schools located in the communities around the plants in Saraburi, Chonburi and Rayong provinces, as part of an initiative called ‘Grow Smart with Tata Steel’. The book corners are designed to help nurture a reading habit in the schoolchildren, which will expand their knowledge and capabilities, and ultimately benefit their families and the local community. The goal is to create similar book corners in 400 schools by 2012.

In the UK, the Company is helping to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers with the launch of a unique sport-themed programme to encourage young children to explore the worlds of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Engineers from the Scunthorpe steelworks in the UK have been working for a year with the Study United organisation and educationalists from North Lincolnshire Council to design the programme.

Other initiatives in this area are as follows:

• The initiation of the Bankhai Technical College and the SIW Dual Vocational Training project by the Siam Industrial Wire Co. Ltd. Here students are given specific training for careers in SIW.
• A cheque of SGD $ 50,000 was presented on behalf of the management and Staff of Natsteel Holdings at the awards presentation ceremony of the Society for the Physically Disabled Education Programme.
• Building Beyond Borders’ - This Tata Steel Thailand programme reaches out to elderly people in underprivileged sections of society and to less fortunate children and youth, in the area of education.

Scholarships

NatSteel, together with the NatSteel Employees’ Union, holds a joint bursary and merit awards presentation. Since the inception of this award in 1991, nearly 1,000 recipients have, in total, received more than half a million Singapore dollars (US$325,000). The NatSteel Scholarship and Study award programmes are given to outstanding students in local universities, helping to attract candidates with excellent academic results and leadership potential.

In the UK, we are the corporate partner of the British Triathlon Federation, encouraging the development of triathletes from grassroots level through to potential Olympic champions. Over 10,000 children have participated in the Kids of Steel events since they began in 2007, giving each child the chance to experience the three triathlon disciplines of swimming, cycling and running.

Tata Steel has formed an association with Study United to create the Goal Challenge – an exploration of scientific and mathematical knowledge in the area of sport for primary schools in North Lincolnshire, UK.

The Tata Steel Chess Tournament, one of the world’s leading chess competitions, takes place annually in Wijk aan Zee in the Netherlands. The 72nd tournament, held in January 2010, attracted 14 of the world’s top players, while local people and employees also took part in the tournament’s amateur competitions.