Golden Touch That Changes Lives

Golden Touch That Changes Lives

Thiruthuraipoondi, a village located close to the eastern extremities of Tamil Nadu, has little to speak for it. Its population of around 25,000 are predominantly farmer families, for whom life is an unending struggle. Thatched homes dot the village, which has Piravi Marundeeswarar Temple at its centre.

They live at the mercy of the elements. When rains come, they must scurry home to shift their mats, clothes and children’s school books to safety, or it would all be drenched in water by the time they reach home after work. It has been a tale that they have lived through year after year. That story changed course a little in 2023. The rains were, as usual, unforgiving. It was as if the rain gods had decided to empty a year’s keepsake on the village. But, the villagers, or around 150-odd families, had little to worry. They had rain guards over their roofs. Nothing out of the world, but sturdy tarpaulin sheets thrown over their thatched roofs and tied firmly to the sides..

A seemingly small gesture, but of great value for these farmer families, who need not now worry about the rain clouds that have been casting a dark shadow on their lives year after year. That small, but significant gesture, came from Muthoot Finance, the largest NBFC in India and a household name in the entire country, as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

For the non-banking financial conglomerate with its footprint across India, Thiruthuraipoondi is but one speck on a large canvas filled with scores of flag posts, marking locations where its caring and comforting arms have reached. “When you see a life change in front of you, it is so gratifying. That satisfaction nothing else can give,” says George M. George, Deputy Managing Director, who heads the CSR Division of Muthoot Finance.

And, thanks to various initiatives of the CSR arm of the Muthoot Group, lives have changed more than a little in many parts of India. It is a spread that embraces both the rural and the urban--in Jaipur in Rajasthan, Lawngtlai town in Mizoram, a tribal village in Uttarakhand, Hemaje in Dakshin Kannada, Guwahati in Asom and many more places. “It is not that we touch everybody’s life. We are across the country now, across every State, barring the north east, but we are still only touching the tip of the iceberg,” says Mr. George.

Diversity of the locations also determine the diversity of the initiatives. If it is about breaking the taboos around menstruation with a bold initiative called ‘Cup of Life’ in the port city of Kochi, it is about distribution of winter jackets to the differently abled in Hyderabad, woolen sweaters to underprivileged children in Asom, and installation of borewells and drinking water facilities in several schools and public institutions in various districts of Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and elsewhere.

It is difficult to walk the talk when it comes to CSR activities. The question is whether a company takes its corporate social responsibility as a burden or as an opportunity. Muthoot Finance has consistently opted for the latter. Thus, when unprecedented floods devastated several villages and rendered thousands homeless in Kerala in 2018, Muthoot Finance stepped in with ‘Aashiyana’, a Rs. 20+ crore project, to provide more than 250 families roofs above their heads. The houses were built at the very places where they lived to help the families retain their emotional connect.