HCL Foundation (HCLF), the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm of HCL Technologies, today announced the recipients of the fifth edition of HCL Grant in the presence of Padma Bhushan, Mr. Kapil Dev, a legend in the global world of cricket and former captain of the Indian Cricket team.

HCL Grant is one of the biggest and most coveted institutionalized CSR grants in India that aims to recognize the rise of the Fifth Estate - the Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs).

The evening was also graced by Mr. Shiv Nadar, Founder & Chairman, HCL, Ms. Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Vice Chairperson of HCL Technologies and the Chairperson of its CSR committee, and Mr. Prateek Aggarwal, Chief Financial Officer, HCL Technologies along with senior dignitaries, officials, NGO-partners and HCL leadership.

HCL Grant 2020 witnessed three NGOs across the categories of Education, Healthcare and Environment receiving a grant of ₹5 crores each. The remaining six finalists across the three categories also received ₹25 lakhs each, taking the overall Grant to ₹16.5 crore.

The finalists and the winners were selected by an eminent jury, which was chaired by Ms. Robin Abrams, Member of the Board, HCL Technologies.

Recipients of HCL Grant 2020:

Environment- The 2020 HCL Grant winner in this category is Under The Mango Tree Society.
Project Location: 4 districts (Gujarat, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh)
Healthcare- The 2020 HCL Grant winner in this category is Operation ASHA.
Project Location: Kullu (Himachal Pradesh)
Education- The 2020 HCL Grant winner in this category is Bal Raksha Bharat.
Project Location: Leh (Ladakh) and Budgam (J&K)

“It is extremely important to bring equal opportunities to people coming from every strata of the society. Health, Education and Environment are one of the most important pillars towards India’s development goals and I am highly impressed with the kind of impact these NGOs are bringing in the rural communities. Also, the robustness of the identification process is something I have not witnessed before. I congratulate both HCL as well the winners and finalists for the phenomenal work they are doing in their respective fields,” Mr. Kapil Dev said while addressing the audience at the event.

Excluding the current grant, HCL Grant has already disbursed ₹51.5 crores (US$ 7.4Mn) to benefit nearly 500,000 people and its supported projects aim to cover over a million people spread across 7,500 villages across 13 States and one Union Territory in the country.

“HCL Foundation is our long-term commitment for social development and today it has improved over 1.5 million lives across our country. Our collaborative model allows us to support communities with critical concerns needing immediate attention and HCL Grant is a prime example of the same. I am proud to say that today the improvements we have been able to drive together with the HCL Grant partner NGOs is not just in terms of immediate impact on beneficiary lives, but also about ensuring long-term sustainable change by influencing state and government policies,” said Ms. Roshni Nadar Malhotra, Vice-Chairperson, HCL Technologies and Chairperson, CSR Committee, HCL Technologies.

Ms. Nidhi Pundhir, Director HCL Foundation, said, “This is a very special year for us as we complete half a decade of empowering the NGOs that are committed to ushering change. This annual HCL Grant event is a culmination of our year-long efforts to identify partners who have the potential to achieve the maximum impact through their social development projects.. We are truly honored to have received applications from all parts of the country and my heartiest congratulations to the winning NGOs for giving us the opportunity to partner with them and support ideas for impactful positive change.”

HCL Foundation also released the compendium of the previous year’s finalists and winning NGOs, named “Fifth Estate – NGOs Transforming Rural India in Environment, Health and Education”.