Releasing its fourth annual sustainability report in New Delhi on Wednesday, Vodafone India highlighted its social initiatives. New Delhi: Mobile Industry is developmental in nature as mobile technology can not only be used for commercial purposes but also for developmental reasons, said Marten Pieters, MD & CEO, Vodafone India. He was speaking at the launch of the fourth annual sustainability report of Vodafone India. Vodafone is the world's second largest telecom firm. Speaking about the company’s sustainability journey, Pieters said that Vodafone India was planting trees to make its offices carbon neutral. “To create value, we have devised initiatives to manage our social, economic and environmental impact and ensure that they are aligned to our social priorities including reducing energy consumption, building human capital and community development,” he said.

Vittorio Colao, CEO of Vodafone Group, said that mobiles have truly transformed the way people engage and interact over the last twenty years. Mobiles have provided exemplary assistance in various fields such as education, healthcare, agriculture and financial inclusion, he said. Colao asserted that communication was the basis of development of society. “We can do a lot on developing good health solutions. Technology and health can go together for developing solutions,” he elaborated. Releasing the report, Colao said, “Seamless connectivity and easy availability have made mobile services the engine for accelerating inclusion and propagation of information across sectors. Importantly, the social development sector has also significantly benefited from advances in both mobile reach and technology, “he said. On this occasion, Colao also presented a cheque of Rs 12 million to Safeena Hussain of Vodafone Foundation’s NGO partner, Educate Girls.

According to Vodafone India, over 12,000 of its employees along with their family and friends participated to raise funds for 8 weeks across the country as part of the ‘giving championship’ to enable more than 47000 young girls in the 6-14 age group in Ajmer, Bundi and Rajsamand districts of Rajasthan to go back to school for one academic year. The sustainability report, titled, ‘Footprints IV- Steps Today for a Better Tomorrow’, chronicles the developmental initiatives undertaken and supported by Vodafone in India during the financial year 2013-14. ‘Vodafone Cares’ is the platform that integrates all the good that Vodafone India does for the society. This report claims to provide the company’s diverse stakeholders, a glimpse of its progress in enabling economic, environmental and social development.