Latest news with #ConfederationofIndianIndustries
The Hindu
3 days ago
- Business
- The Hindu
World Bicycle Day: Revisiting two initiatives aimed at encouraging people to reduce the carbon footprint
'Manufacturing' a cycling movement in Manali Kothari Petrochemicals in Manali did not just tell its employees to cycle to work; it enabled them to do so. It gifted Hercules cycles to over 140 employees on its rolls on National Safety Day in March 2022. The management's request to its staff: pedal to work at least once a week. Incentives nudging employees to take the eco-friendly route followed. And that 'route' is well-travelled. In addition, the company has been taking other routes to energy conservation and pollution control. All these efforts have resulted in a plethora of recognitions for Kothari Petrochemicals including the National Award for Excellence in Energy Management 2024 by the Confederation of Indian Industries. The biggest encouragement however comes from the fact that neighbouring companies in Manali emulate its example by gifting bicycles to their employees. 'Once a month, usually on the fourth Saturday, we observe 'No Bike Day' encouraging employees to pedal to work or use public transport,' says Premapiriyan P., vice-president, Kothari Petrochemicals. Next, the company switched to vehicles running on liquefied natural gas (LNG) for employee transportation. Two electrical cars were added to the fleet, and a fork lift was converted from diesel to electrical. Employees who bicycle to work the maximum number of days in a month are incentivised with cash awards and carbon offset certificates. Carbon dioxide emission has been reduced by 650 kilos on account of employees commuting by bicycle, says data shared by the company. With a good number of employees living within a five to seven km radius of the plant, the management had a solid reason to push for a bicycle commute. Once an employee pedals to work for a minimum of 10 days, a carbon dioxide math is done and certificates and gifts are given accordingly. M. Rajavel, whole time director, Kothari Petrochemicals, says currently 20-25% of employees bicycle to work on a regular basis and they want to raise this percentage by another 50% this year. 'It is also important to understand the bottlenecks that employees face while cycling, which could be due to bad roads or chaotic traffic in the city, so I have asked the team to study the reasons. If their concerns can be addressed by the company then we will take it up or we can represent it to the Corporation,' says Rajavel. The management will be purchasing another round of bicycles to be given to employees who have joined the organisation in the recent years. A feeder service between a Metro station and a college When the new academic year kicks off at M.O.P. Vaishnav College in June, the students and staff will have the advantage of taking a feeder service from the closest Metro Rail station to the college campus on Nungambakkam. Chennai Metro Rail Limited is offering this service to support the college's 'No Vehicle Day' launched in August 2024. 'CMRL authorities got in touch with us and wanted a schedule in advance for them to arrange a service for the benefit of students, which we plan to take up from June,' says Archna Prasad, principal, M.O.P. Vaishnav College for Women. Currently, DMS or Thousand Lights are the closest metro stations accessed by a majority of the students. The shuttle service, if implemented well, would encourage more students to ditch their vehicles on other days of the week as well to rely on public transport - which was also the larger goal of keeping vehicles off the campus every last Thursday of the month, later changed to any one day in the month, based on students' feedback . The principal notes that students' comfort level had to take precedence: if No Vehicle Day fell on an exam day, students would be handicapped by not using their own vehicle. There could be delay in reaching the college. So, the date and day of No Vehicle Day have been kept flexible. The initiative runs on the steam of flash mobs and messages on social media earlier on. No campaigns are needed today: just an announcement a day before No Vehicle Day. Archna says the initial two months the departments tried not to schedule visitors on the campus on the D-Day but now guests are also asked to switch to public transport. The agenda for the coming academic year is to encourage students to pedal to college and also to get students and staff to switch to e-vehicles, says the principal, adding 'on No Vehicle day, e-vehicles are allowed.'
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
10-05-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
Events-related travel to, within India hit amid rising Indo-Pak tensions
Several upscale hotels in New Delhi reporting cancellation or postponing of business meetings, conferences Akshara Srivastava New Delhi The escalating tensions between India and Pakistan have impacted the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE) segment, with travel to and within India witnessing a fall, though marginally. Several upscale hotels in New Delhi have reported cancellation of multiple banquet bookings amid rising uncertainty due to the conflict between the two countries. The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) on Friday postponed its Annual Business Summit that was supposed to be held on May 12 and 13 at Taj Palace hotel in Chanakyapuri. 'In view of the prevailing evolving circumstances, it has been decided to postpone the CII Annual Business Summit as a gesture of respect for those engaged in safeguarding the country, and a reaffirmation of our intent to contribute constructively and responsibly,' CII said. The event was to be attended by over 1,500 delegates and at least 10 ministers were to speak at the summit. At other hotels, too, cancellations started to trickle in by Friday evening. 'We have started to see some cancellations for banquet events and some for rooms. Business executives are choosing to avoid any non-essential travel,' said a hotel booking manager on condition of anonymity. Business Standard reported earlier this week that leisure as well as business travel across north India was seeing a dip and would continue to be subdued owing to the uncertainties of an imminent war-like situation. Travel industry executives have pointed out that not just domestic travel to the northern region, but inbound travel into India, too, might start seeing a decline in the coming week if tensions continue to flare. 'People will definitely start to become more cautious. While Indians might also rethink going out, because of increased travel times and increased prices, what will be the most impacted is inbound travel until the situation de-escalates,' an industry executive had told Business Standard earlier. 'This would especially impact the MICE segment going forward,' the executive added. Earlier this week, the Embassy of the United States of America in New Delhi, and the British High Commission had advised against travel to certain parts of India, including Jammu and Kashmir. China, too, has asked citizens to avoid travel to 'conflict zones' in India, while Canada has asked citizens to exercise a 'high degree of caution in India due to threat of terrorist strikes'. The Indian government has been strategically targeting the MICE sector, recognising its potential to attract high-spending, repeat visitors and has been working on the simplification of visa procedures, on top of having created E-visa facilities for over 175 countries. According to a February 2025 report by Deloitte, the Indian corporate travel sector is growing, driven by rising MICE events and the expansion of SMEs exploring new markets. 'The country's success in hosting large-scale events, such as the G20 Summit, signals future opportunities. Additionally, India is becoming a key hub for global capability centres, increasing employee travel needs. An analysis of the top 100 firms by net income shows IT services, BFSI and engineering account for 57 per cent of corporate travel spend, with most firms allocating 1 per cent of net income to travel budgets, highlighting the sector's importance,' the report stated.
