R. S. Kalsi, Executive Director, Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki India Limited
Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), India’s leading passenger vehicle maker, has received the prestigious CII-ITC Sustainability Award 2016 for its CSR initiatives. The award, ‘Corporate Excellence – Commendation of Significant Achievement’ in CSR Domain Excellence, was a recognition for the Company’s exemplary performance in positively impacting the business and society by taking a strategic approach to CSR. The award is based on a detailed application form and field visit by assessors. Committed to create a long-term stakeholder value and benefit millions of lives through its CSR programmes the Company strategically addresses issues and concerns that are of national interest and relevant to the local community. As part of a well-rounded social strategy, it works to address road safety issues, create employable force by skilling youth in the automobile industry and undertake integrated water, sanitation and school upgradation programmes in village communities. The award was received by Mr R C Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki India, from Mr. Prakash Javadekar, Hon’ble Minister of HRD, Govt. of India at a function last evening. CSR has always been an integral part of Maruti Suzuki’s business approach and strategy. Road Safety: The Company’s main focus is driving training, as “driver fault” is identified as the major cause of road accidents. By supporting driving training of underprivileged youth, the Company is able to enhance their employability while making roads safer. Creating awareness among school children, and taking integrated measures on specific road stretches, are other ways in which the Company contributes to road safety. The Company has trained more than 3 million people in over a decade.
Skill Development: Maruti Suzuki strives to offer India’s youth skills relevant to the industry requirement through its ‘Skill Development’, a pan-India initiative. The Company works in partnership with over 140 Government ITIs to offer vocational training to the youth through a curriculum that is designed to address the skill gap existing in the industry. Thousands of youth across the country have found gainful employment under this initiative. Community Development: The Company considers local community as the direct stakeholder group. Maruti Suzuki has taken various community development initiatives related to water and sanitation, education and infrastructure development. By adopting an inclusive and holistic approach the Company believes in implementing sustainable solutions resulting in long-term benefits to the communities.
Suzuki Ertiga Dreza, Suzuki Ertiga GX – Thai Motor Expo Live
Ertiga GX slots between Ertiga Dreza and GL, priced at 695,000 baht. While the previous Ertiga was available in the GX grade, the facelifted model only came in GL and range-topping Dreza grade, until today. Suzuki Motor Thailand has launched the Ertiga GX at the 2016 Thai Motor Expo today. The new variant slots between the Ertiga Dreza and GL, and is priced at 695,000 baht. It gets some of the features only available in the Ertiga Dreza, which include ABS with EBD, anti-theft Immobilizer, steering mounted buttons, seat height adjuster, chrome door handles and chrome foglamp garnish. The Ertiga Dreza is also being showcased at the expo. Priced at 735,000 baht, the Dreza looks quite different to the Ertiga GX. It features a unique grille and front bumper, LED daytime running lights and new foglight enclosures, new diamond cut alloy wheel design and side sill guards with chrome appliques, re-profiled rear bumper with a chrome garnish, a roof-mounted spoiler. Inside, the Dreza features wood trim and two tone leather upholstery. Both models share the 1.4L K14B four cylinder naturally aspirated engine paired with a 4-speed automatic gearbox (torque converter), which produces 92 hp and 130 Nm of torque.
10000 tribal youth benefit from Maruti Suzuki and Gujarat government’s driving training initiative
Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL), India’s leading passenger vehicle
maker, today announced milestone achievement of training 10,000 tribal youth in professional driving in ‘All Gujarat Institute of Driving, Technical Training and Research (AGIDTTR)’ located at Waghodia, Gujarat. Set up as a public-private-partnership between the Ministry of Tribal Development (Gujarat) and Maruti Suzuki in 2009, AGIDTTR has consistently focused on providing gainful employment opportunities to the tribal youth through comprehensive driver training programs. Mr. R S Kalsi, Executive Director, Marketing & Sales, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, said, “Our objective is to make the students employment ready through driving training and soft skills, and help them get suitable employment. These youth have shown tremendous enthusiasm in improving their quality of life. With support from the state government the institute has witnessed an increase in enrollment as compared to same time last year. We are optimistic on sustaining the momentum and providing the youth with opportunities through more such establishments.” About AGIDTTR Set up under the Gujarat Government’s Vanbandhu Welfare Scheme, AGIDTTR is specifically targeted at the tribal students concentrated in the eastern belt who work at farms as labourers and at construction sites. In the 45-day residential training programme the youth are imparted with driving skills and soft skills such as basic English-speaking, table manners, workplace etiquette, yoga, crafts, map reading and entrepreneurship. Spread across 20 acres, the institute comprises a driving track, classrooms and lab infrastructure along with four simulators and 18 vehicles for driving training. It has witnessed an impressive placement rate of 73 percent, with employers including large scale companies across diverse verticals such as pharmaceuticals, food & beverage, auto manufacturers and telecom. Further, scaling up its efforts Maruti Suzuki has now introduced a new course for Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV). The training will be done on the recently launched Super Carry. At present driving training is offered for light motor vehicles (LMV), heavy motor vehicles (HMV), HMV trucks and forklifts.
The LCV module will benefit the learners through:
• Aspects of cargo handling like loading/ unloading, vehicle placement, weather proofing etc.
• Transportation of cargo - route planning & delivery
• Features of a light commercial vehicle – Super carry
• Fuel efficiency for transport vehicles
• Safety precautions in transportation of cargo Maruti Suzuki’s driving training initiative: Maruti Suzuki started its driving training initiative in 2000 as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility. The Company currently manages six IDTRs in partnership with state governments, including two each in Delhi and Haryana. The Company has also set up over 370 Maruti Driving Schools (MDS) in partnership with dealers. MDS are neighborhood driving schools for training individuals on passenger vehicles. Over the years Maruti Suzuki has laid down standards for quality driving training, including a dynamic curriculum covering theory and practical sessions. The Company uses state-of-the-art driving simulators and training vehicles and has developed instructors to impart quality training.