hello everyone and welcome to help your
ngos exclusive
webinar planet people profit
we`ve all gathered here today to
understand how each one of us can make a
big difference
by simply making the right choices i
like to take this opportunity to welcome
our first speaker
the evangelist dia mirza via is a
renowned actor
producer and activist she`s a committed
voice for change
and has contributed her efforts in the
field of social change conservation and
environment
she is the u.n secretary general`s
advocate for the sustainable development
goals
and has been the face of many pivotal
environmental campaigns across india
as a un environment goodwill ambassador
and a global ambassador
for the international fund for animal
welfare vr works to further spread the
message on priority areas
including clean air clean seas wildlife
protection
and the climate change she`s also
associated with the wildlife trust of
india
save the children and sanctuary nature
foundation
we are it`s an absolute pleasure to have
you on board
it is with great pleasure that i welcome
our next speaker
the policy maker amarjeet singh working
with sebi for the last 25 years
amarjeet has extensive experience in
regulation and supervision of the
securities markets
he is the executive director in charge
of corporate finance department
and also heads the department of
economic policy and analysis
at seven america has been involved in
various international regulatory
initiatives
he represents debbie as a part-time
member on the board of national
financial reporting authority
and of governance of the indian
institute of corporate affairs
he has represented sebi on numerous
committees set up by rbi and the
government of india
apart from an mba he holds a master`s
degree
in economic policy management from
colombia university new york
welcome amarjeet it`s a privilege to
have you with us today
moving on to our third speaker the
practitioner chirag betha
with over 18 years of experience in
managing alternative investment
strategies
chirag was ranked as the fourth best
fund manager in the world
under the age of 40 by city wire in
2017.
he`s a qualified chartered alternative
investment analyst
and has also completed his masters in
management studies and finance
chirag currently manages five funds
largely in the field of alternative
investments that includes
quantum gold funds a multi-asset fund of
funds
an equity fund of fund and the esg fund
he joined the quantum group in 26 2006
after uh gaining hands-on experience in
the physical commodities market and
working on projects for the federation
of indian commodities exchanges
pleasure to have you with us today
um and finally i am vinnie bolakia the
enabler representing help your ngo
i joined healthcare ngo in 2015 and
am currently leading a team of
passionate individuals
committed to helping ngos move a step
closer
to achieving the sdgs
now without further ado let me ask
the first question to the evangelist
uh so they are from an actor to an
activist
how did you get involved in doing good
and uh
how did that evolve into your active
participation and association with the
uns teachings
i want to start with thanking you for
conducting this
panel and for having this conversation i
think it`s very important for more and
more people to get engaged and
understand what the sdgs are and it`s my
privilege to be here
um i have the extraordinary privilege of
doing
so much for our shared planet and the
collective habitats around the world
and as an sdhd advocate and un
environment goodwill ambassador
these are not just titles but
our our opportunity
is born from the passion and the love
that i`ve had
for um nature in the environment and
wildlife
right from childhood and
perhaps it is my role in in public life
that brought me this opportunity
and it`s it`s a big privilege to be able
to speak for
an advocate for what is absolutely
necessary for all of us to protect
um as is becoming even more evident
every day
it`s not some idea that we need to
protect it is
a very necessary and important
connection and a relationship
that we share with these entities and
species and
habitats um
i think i`ve always been driven
right from my childhood to act
i`ve always responded to uh
you know the plight of those that cannot
speak
or express themselves especially animals
uh i grew up in an environment where my
mother would constantly be rescuing
injured birds and animals and adopting
them and helping them recover before she
let them back into you know
nature and i i think it was these early
impressions
and these early learnings of empathy
that
made me the adult that i was and it is
the work that i did in the
in the beginning of my adult life with
organizations and ngos
that help me understand that you know
doing good
uh is is not something that you do
outside of the main area of your work it
has to become a part of everything that
you do
and it`s not a separate entity uh you
know i
i don`t believe in the concept of
philanthropy
uh as separate from your human entity i
think
uh it`s uh it`s a very um
it`s i don`t know i guess it`s a very
strange way of looking at
being uh the best person that you can be
and
and i think as all of us have the
potential and the ability as individuals
no matter
what sphere or realm of life we are a
part of no matter what our professional
uh roles are whether we are journalists
or entrepreneurs or
you know directors of sebby or whoever
it is that we are
we have the incredible ability to do
good
and make a difference a positive impact
on society
and um i i think that it was
this that
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that i work with you
um by the united states to be their
ambassador
uh five years ago and uh it was a it was
uh and subsequently working
with uh the secretary general on the
sustainable development goals
and being a part of 17 incredible
um leaders and advocates who are you
know
from different parts of the world
there`s so much to learn from each of
these advocates
but also so much to learn from the goals
themselves
and everything that we hope to achieve
through achieving these goals so
it`s been a i think in many ways
i can`t separate what the goals
represent
and what my life represents because it`s
one and the same thing and i hope
that more and more people as they come
to understand what these goals are we`ll
learn to see how the goals can become
and an indelible part of our everyday
lives and the choices that we make as
individuals
every single day for me they are the
knock start they
they they form a sense of direction and
motivation and inspiration
and kind of determine my choices on a
daily basis
absolutely we are also could you shed
some light on
what your role is as a u.n environment
goodwill ambassador for india
and as an sdg advocate
well as as the as the name suggests
uh the the as an advocate for the
sustainable development goals it`s
obviously
to ensure that the maximum number of
people
a large that i have reached to that i
can communicate with
and kind of engage with learn about the
goals and understand the goals better
and that`s the primary role that i play
and i use of course
the power and the strength in the reach
of my social media platforms to do that
outside of you know generating and
creating content and creating
opportunities of engagement
and communication such as this and many
others
i engage a lot with young people
students and
uh you know advocates that also kind of
represent different fields
i work with ngos and um
it`s really about building partnerships
and helping how
and determining how um different people
can start to learn to work with
each other in with these partnerships so
i i think in a way
as an advocate what i really work or
function as
is like a bridge between the policy and
the science and the public
and uh make i think in a way
the sustainable development goals more
um
like tangible more reachable kind of in
terms of just connecting and
understanding what they are
and simplifying them so that they`re
more approachable to more people
um especially young people
and uh as the u.n environment uh
goodwill ambassador i`ve had the
privilege of like you mentioned in your
introduction of me
uh working on some of the most powerful
some of the most urgent and important
campaigns uh in raising awareness
not only in india but globally in in
an awareness that has then resulted in
some very important shifts in policy
uh but most importantly has driven
and has resulted in some absolutely
incredible public engagement
unlike we`ve ever seen before especially
during the last uh four four and a half
five years
we`ve seen more participation
from young india in the history
of this country uh in in in the sphere
of environment than
ever before so it`s um it`s a real
privilege
interacting and engaging with young
people and but quite simply just taking
the science and the policy and the
understanding to people
thanks for sharing that yeah in fact you
know as you were mentioning earlier
partnerships
is really uh important and that`s what
sdg 17 is right partnerships for the
goals so i`m glad you`re really
reaching out to nonprofits and
partnering with them
um
okay adi our next question is
which of the 17 sdgs are you most
passionate about and why
well honestly vinnie you know
i think uh the fact of the matter is
that
there is an interconnectedness in all of
these goals
so it is impossible for us to achieve
one goal
if uh the others are not achieved right
so it
they`re all just like the human species
and the natural world
is interconnected with one another so
are these goals
but um i think given the
urgency and the immediacy and the
rate of um
change and devastation and all that
you know climate change is causing i
think that there are three sdgs
that directly impact all
the rest and we as a human species
now will be completely dependent
on ensuring we achieve these three goals
in order to achieve
any of the others and that would be
sdg 13. so if we don`t achieve sdg 13
which is climate action
uh it would not be possible for us to
achieve zero hunger
or gender equality or education for all
or nutrition
for all and uh or any of the others so
for me
it is 13 life below water
life on land these are all sdgs
connected to nature
and bring back bringing back and
restoring the natural balance i just
want to quickly use this opportunity to
highlight
why for those who may not understand or
may not know
um i think this recent i mean
this ongoing health crisis uh
caused by corporate 19 is a
a very urgent and a very important
example
of our failed relationship and the
outcome of our failed and broken
relationship with nature
unfortunately the human species has
become
the most populous species on the planet
we`ve
also unfortunately altered 75
of the earth`s surface uh with the
arrogance and the ego that
we think we control everything
i think this invisible virus has taught
us quite well
that we are not actually in control of
everything
and we are completely dependent on the
balance of the
natural world in order to maintain
health
and therefore then to kind of achieve
any kind of progress whether it is
economic or
any other the third thing that this
pandemic has taught us is that
and economists now are saying it there
are all kinds of reports whether it`s
the ipc
report or the you know the world
economic
forum reports that have been revealed
that say that
all human progress and all economic
progress now
is completely and solely dependent on
the health of
environment and ecologies so
that apart i think what this crisis has
taught us
is that if we do not
re-interpret the way we live if we do
not reimagine
the world that we inhabit which is
completely in sync with the
understanding that our health
our well-being our survival is totally
dependent
on the balance of the natural world
um we are not going to get very far
because climate change
is causing unprecedented natural
disasters and events that are causing
huge devastation and destruction we saw
you may have noticed that the
temperature in a place called latin in
canada was 49.5 degrees centigrade
yesterday and day before um and
and we are in you know
they`re not even in the peak of summer
yet so
um it`s uh
there are three crisises that we were
contending with before this pandemic
struck
which was the climate crisis the natural
crisis which was
loss of ecological systems and
species extinction and the third of
course
is the pollution crisis the pollution of
air water and
seas so if we
do not reconsider the way we build our
economies the way we consume the way we
produce
the way we live
and understand fully that
we are completely and solely dependent
on
the choices we make now to determine our
survival and our health we`re in big
trouble
thanks yeah i was actually quite
expecting you to mention that fbg is one
of your favorites
and like you mentioned you know all of
the 17 sdgs are interlinked and
uh even if for failure of one happens
then you know it will hinder the
progress of many others
yeah we`re completely set back on most
of the sdgs we had
some progress on a few because of the
pandemic
and because of many other natural uh
an ecological crisis that we are
experiencing i mean it`s not like
while the pandemic was is going on that
you know we`ve not had
um floods or cyclones or
drought everything else continues to
happen and that impacts people
and causes huge setbacks
sure um my next question is
to the policy maker amarjeet from
financial reporting to sustainability
reporting
uh sebi has now mandated the top
thousand district companies to disclose
on their environmental social and
governance that is esd framework which i
believe is a significant step towards
the unsdgs
do you think uh investors are now
considering esg factors to be
as important as the financial health of
the company
yeah yeah absolutely that is a short
answer but
before i you know deeper into it uh
thanks for having me in this event
thanks to you thanks to ajit
and also my compliments to diya for you
know the wonderful role she`s playing as
a un
environment goodwill ambassador for sdgs
in india
uh so you know to your question uh
definitely the there is a growing
awareness about
est issues amongst all stakeholders be
it
investors you know the companies or
society
in general so uh
investors are you know increasingly
recognizing that
sustainability issues such as climate
change
can actually put the companies at risk
companies performance at risk
so momentum has been building over the
past few years
and my observation is that you know in
the last
year and a half since the pandemic
started
the needle has moved even faster
towards you know the growing
consciousness on the sustainability
issues so it`s not just a you know a
plain statement we also have the
evidence
that you know demonstrates that more and
more sustainable investments are
happening today
and let me just give you some data you
know in terms of evidence to just
demonstrate that how
investors are becoming more conscious
about sustainability issues and how they
are driving
investments in the corporate world
so just to give you some figures here
the total assets
in the sustainability funds uh increased
from usd
550 billion at the beginning of 2018.
this is the global data
2 usd 960 billion at the end of 2019. so
it was
550 billion in the beginning of
2018 and it became 960 at the end of
2019.
so in the first three months of 2020
when the pandemic was
unfolding esc funds
witnessed inflow of usd 45 billion
dollars as compared to outflows
see there was a crisis at that point of
time so there were
global funds outflows of 385 billion
in the overall fund universe but the esc
funds were still attracting
funds fresh investments and if you look
at the
you know the subsequent quarters of 2020
in the area of sustainable investments
you find that the total assets in
sustainable funds
they were at usd 1.6
trillion at the end of december 2020. so
if you go back to the figure of 2018
there`s a 200 percent increase in three
years
so you know so investors are speaking
with their checkbook
it is not just a you know just a
statement being made plain statement
being made
and let me also add when we`re talking
global
europe accounts for 80 percent of
of these funds you know i said
management
let`s look at the indian situation in
india i would
say it`s uh just the beginning of
pst investing that we started witnessing
and it`s interesting to note out of
those nine funds
seven were launched after january 2020
so there`s a certain sort of you know
interest in est
investments and our uh
you know the esc funds
assets in india they doubled from
previous quarter
in the last quarter of 2020 i am saying
to usd 1.3 billion so it is very small
amount
compared to the global first so that is
why you know this is
just the beginning as i said so
there are two driving forces when it
comes to esc investing one is the
investors second is the governments and
the regulators like us
so we are trying to do our bit in this
space
so impact my awareness about stds grew
over the last two years since i`ve been
engaged in this work
and we`ve actually mapped all the sdgs
to our disclosure framework
so we`ve come out with a framework
called brsr which is
as you mentioned in your question itself
and
that lays you know considerable emphasis
on quantifiable
metrics you know in terms of the
impact the companies is causing on the
environment or on the gender diversity
issues or
host of other issues so our expectation
is that
this pr sr will bring in a greater
transparency in this space and will give
a philip to you know sustainable
investments and also a sustainable
economy
i will pause there yes
i think esg`s popularity is also
evident from the surge in the launch of
esg
themed mutual funds in india which is a
pattern picked up from the international
markets
yeah that`s right that`s absolutely
right
but you say we have only nine i hope we
have many many many more esg`s
in the new year yeah so you know but we
have to be little careful there
as a regulator of course we are
responsible for
uh disclosures in the market and also
there should not be any mis-selling
i mean we would like to have more funds
but you know from the point of view of
protecting the interests of investors
we would also like to make sure that a
fund does not sell
est just by enabling it it should be
true to its
label so those kind of concerns
absolutely
amazing if companies refuse to
pivot towards the svgs since it may
result in say
loss of profit uh will sebi consider
taking punitive action against them for
you know not reporting uh their progress
towards the sdgs
so very that`s a great question
so we have to understand this little
carefully so let me
try and illustrate it with an example
just to make it clear
so as i said our disclosure framework
is rooted in sdgs we`ve mapped out all
the stds into our disclosure framework
so maybe let me pick one example
let`s say sdg5 and so
corresponding to that sdg5
seek information on from the companies
on gender diversity
in a company representation of women on
the
board of directors turnover
of the women employees the rates at
which they return
after maternity leave the benefits which
are provided to them
um you know the the median wage
structure of male versus female
employees and so on so there`s a host of
disclosures out there
so idea is to get a sense from the
companies from the organization
are they really promoting gender
diversity and equal opportunity
for women within the company now
supposing the company
does not disclose this information or
ask for the framework or maybe gives a
misleading disclosure
in terms of these disclosure
requirements those companies
uh we will have a right to take action
but now the important point is supposing
they disclose
but they are not making progress on
these in these areas
or you know supposing they are uh
nowhere flows
to the targets they would have liked to
set for themselves
we will not be able to take action for
their non-performance
for non-performance investors will take
action
you know if if as an investor you see
that this company is not doing so well
in gender diversity
you maybe you will decide not to invest
in that company we will monitor very
carefully the disclosures
any non-disclosure and any misleading
disclosure
that we will have the right to take
action as a regulator
uh you know america interestingly the
sdgs and the indian csr law were
actually
formulated and implemented around the
same time
in fact areas under uh the schedule
seven of the companies act can
actually be mapped to uh multiple sdgs
simultaneously
and lately the government has introduced
penal provisions
for non-compliance with csr rules which
is actually a paradigm
shift from the earlier uh comply or
explained
regime so i feel sebby also could you
know
do something similar and eventually
consider uh introducing penal provisions
so so just to clarify again penal
provisions are there
we have all the regulatory power see we
we run our disclosure based really
so any problem with disclosures we can
make companies accountable
and take action but when it comes to the
esd space see this has been a light
let`s understand our revolution we`ve
had business responsibility reporting
which was mandated by cb way back in
2012 it started with 100 companies
progressively we expanded it to thousand
companies now we`ve given it a total
makeover and we are calling it a bigger
brsr
right so but we see a light touch regime
and if you look at the world over
very few jurisdictions have mandatory
requirement
so we are one of the few jurisdictions
where we said you have to mandatorily
disclose as for our framework so that
will kick in from the next year this
year it will be voluntary
next year it becomes mandatory correct
got it uh moving on to the practitioner
uh chirag do you believe as a fund
manager
prioritizing sustainability is a far
more important
than focusing on returns and how do you
reckon your investors will react to this
should have your own new sorry
sure uh thank you vinnie uh thank you
for having me on the panel uh i think uh
congratulations to via for the great
advocacy she`s doing towards sdgs
and also emerging given the push that we
all need as investors from a regulatory
perspective
it`s all coming from there uh so so i
think
great thank you for both of them coming
to investors yes
investors do look for returns overall
but if you look at
the uh overall framework broadly right
profitability
and responsibility are complementary as
opposed to being funded
contradictory right and if you look at
the relationship between the two it`s
getting stronger by the day
i mean if you look at uh you know gone
are the days when you know
corporations used to believe that
pollution was just a free factor
labor was just a cost factor and scale
and scope was
everything for them right the so-called
social license to operate which was
taken for granted by many companies
is being challenged today uh the social
trends the environment trends that we
are seeing fast unfolding
and also there is at the same time
rising public
expectations for better accountability
from these corporates
all this is having far-reaching
financial consequences for the companies
and therefore uh if you are not
accountable like for companies who are
not accountable for their behavior
have risk associated with them and may
fail to generate the long-term return
that
investors are looking for the
compounding that we call or the
compounding of returns that investors
are looking for over the long run
will not be met because of these risks
or will be endangered by this risk
so overall it is in our self-interest in
the self-interest of our investors
that we replace the question in terms of
asking
how much return to how much sustainable
return right
uh it`s a it`s a kind of misconception
people think that sustainable investing
is about changing the world it`s not
it`s about understanding how the world
is changing around us
that is very very important and those
changes are very very rapid like
diabetes upon the climate change
climate change it`s it`s unfolding very
very rapidly and if you look at certain
sectors in the economy
are already getting impacted by the
climate challenge that we have
sectors like energy agriculture
insurance transport logistics
all are already feeling the brunt of
climate change that we are having at
hands
also if you look at the macro level
india as a country has not created the
climate problem
but it has to be at the center of any
potential solution to mitigate the
climate challenge at hand
why is that so because if india is not
part of a solution
then it will undo what other countries
are bringing to the table the hard work
that they are doing towards mitigating
uh issues surrounding climate change
that will all be get undone because if
uh india as as it progresses will start
consuming
a lot more things be it air conditioners
automobiles
etc etc and if we do not grow
sustainably in all these our
consumption habits then i think it will
lead to
an impact uh in terms of uh
the climate issue with or just go out of
hand
right so this means that government will
be at the
uh under pressure from all these global
counterparts in terms of
how india behaves towards its
consumption habits
and government will surely pass it on to
companies consumers and if your
companies you are investing in
are not geared towards growing
sustainably
then then there will be some risk some
problems for those companies going ahead
so overall uh we need to invest in
companies which are
good sustainable companies and if you
look at trades of these companies which
are good sustainable
uh they have proactive stakeholder
engagement there is no
evidence of harmful relationships uh
they are uh
well aware of the social and environment
trends that are unfolding and they kind
of
uh impart them into a risk management
incentive processes
overall so they are ahead of the curve
ahead of the disruptive changes we might
see from a regulatory perspective from a
consumption perspective
uh they are innovative they are
efficient they have a good board
management which is adaptable to all
these changes
and therefore it all speaks about the
esg standards all speak about
how good the quality of management of
these companies are
right so uh these strong esg companies
or sustainable companies
are less exposed to tail risk overall uh
for example could be environmental
accidents or need punishment from
regulators
so they are uh kind of incorporating all
this
into their business activities and uh
in a nutshell if i have to define uh why
it is important from an investment
perspective
is if you think of investing is all
about incorporating the future right
so esg risk and opportunities are an
important component of that future
evaluation
and therefore cannot be ignored by us as
investors
so overall i think uh it`s been uh it`s
been it has become
very very important to look at
sustainability as a criteria into our
investments
and i think that will reap rewards in
the long run
and as america said i think it has been
very well
uh although it was very very nascent and
it still started in india
it`s been a very very uh well
received by the investors if you look at
the growth of est funds although esg
funds have done well
but that`s that`s the only thing uh not
driving investors
it is uh because esg is giving them an
opportunity to work with their wallets
to what where their belief and value
systems are and therefore we are seeing
that
grow and we will see that growth improve
manifold going forward as well
thanks china dia as
the u.n environment goodwill ambassador
you led the beat plastic pollution
campaign in 2018
which eventually led to india proposing
phase out of single use
of plastics by 2022 which i think is
phenomenal
um what are the three things that you
wish to achieve over the next uh
say one or two years
uh it will be phenomenal if we achieve
this goal
because the fact of the matter is that
even when our prime minister made that
commitment to the world that
india would phase out single-use
plastics by 2022
18 states in our country had banned
single-use plastics but
the ban had not been implemented on the
ground
barring two states none of the other
states have been able to achieve this
and i think that draws our attention to
the problem
really that the world is suffering at
large
and uh and the only way that we can
really bring change and
and this forms a very big part of what i
would hope to be able to achieve within
my lifetime
is the understanding that
uh we no longer as the human species
have the privilege of being disconnected
with our understanding of all that that
knowledge of our interdependence with
nature
and the interdependence of the natural
the health of the natural world with our
health
when we talk about pollution and
single-use plastics is actually a very
big
contributor to pollution uh whether it
is
air pollution soil pollution or water
pollution i
just shared three disturbing uh facts
uh recent scientific studies have
revealed that there are plastic microns
or plastic
microbes that have been for found in the
placenta
of the uterus now
if plastic has entered our bloodstream
the human bloodstream
it essentially tells us that plastic
actually goes nowhere
and while it may be a life-saving
material
in many cases for many things our
medications are
packaged in this material and you know
like i said life saving there are
it is the same tendency of the material
which is to outlive us
all and outlive many generations that
should have
made us accountable
for the production and the scale of
production and
the management of this plastic
where is all this waste going
how are we dealing with this waste is a
question
that world leaders policy makers
consumers
and companies should have asked when we
started
using it at the extent and the
accelerated
quantum of plastic that was being used
for packaging
so there are two couple of things that i
feel that we need to definitely
implement with urgency not just as
as a country not not just india but
globally needs to it needs to happen
one is the extended producers
responsibility
if you are a company that is packaging
our food or beverage or any
item of sustenance that i use in my
everyday life
and you`re using plastic to package it
with you have to be held accountable
for where that packaging is going to go
are you introducing it into a circular
economy
what are you doing with that pace that
is generated
the second is civic bodies need to
become
more strengthened and waste management
as a system and it is a profit making
a department it`s something that can
genuinely
uh lead to a lot of income
for many communities if it is
streamlined
and implemented effectively across the
country so waste management is a very
critical
area of our focus that we need to
concentrate on
uh
we so extended producers responsibility
proper waste management systems that
hold citizens
equally accountable as we do industry
and
basically there is a partnership between
the public and
the obviously the government sector
uh where we make this system
accessible and possible
uh there are incredible examples of
individuals working in urban centers
right now to make this a plausible
dream that to make this a reality
uh but we need a lot more momentum
because
as somebody who`s traveled from the
source of the ganga
all the way to sea slow travel through
five states and i`ve seen
plastic pervade into the
most natural most pure
places of our country where there is no
human activity plastic has reached
so it it started off with me wondering
if
there are no collection systems there
are no management systems here
how is where is all this plastic going
to go it`s obviously going to land up in
our rivers and our seas and
then eventually in our food chain but
so that`s a very important part the
third area
that i really hope uh
it`s difficult to kind of say one thing
but in context to the question that you
asked
the third aspect in
seeing this as a as a
reality would be to
build or kind of
really support green innovation
you know i i want to as a woman give an
example i know there probably not enough
women in this forum i can`t really tell
how much female representation we have
here
but a small item of personal hygiene
that we use to protect our lives
actually
up until a few years ago i didn`t know
it was made mostly of plastics and is
incinerated which again
causes further pollution levels is the
sanitary napkin
right now i know for a fact that there
is a sustainable biodegradable
completely healthy
option of that available in the market
today it`s not been mainstreamed yet
but the the question i want to ask is
how long before governments ask
you know you the big companies that
manufacture these products
why they are not making the most
sustainable choice
why are they making people sick with
their products
why are they polluting our air and our
water and our soil
we cannot afford to turn our heads away
from all of this anymore
so this is only three small examples in
connection to
plastic there are many more things but i
think at the core of what i`m saying
is because this this this platform
is is you know about money and
profit and planet i just want to leave
you all with
a statistic a number that`s i think very
critical
and i really believe that it is
counter-intuitive
for governments for policy makers for
industries and individuals to not
consider
this nature and its services are
responsible for
44 trillion dollars of economic value
generation
which is basically half of the global
gdp
percent of the world`s poor are
dependent on nature for livelihoods
and quite frankly if we don`t have
health
we have nothing
so that is not just a mahavra it`s not
just a saying
it`s a fact and
so far the world i feel has
developed or shaped economies from a
place of
double conscience you know i`m okay to
kill a few as long as i`m
feeding a few million i think that
that moral conflict has to shift we have
to change the way we think in the way we
operate and we function
thanks for sharing those numbers and
your thoughts with us
the social stock exchange is a
pioneering and welcome move by sebi
which will definitely offer or say more
funding structures for
indian social enterprises and ngos there
are concerns however
that the ssc will make it easier for
larger ngos to raise capital
and create an elite group say
you know of ngos listed on the ssc what
are your views on this
i i don`t agree you know so that`s not
the correct perception
and let me let me try and explain that
so first of all you know we need to see
as per the
recommendations of the of the two expert
groups that say we had set up
for you know setting up the social stock
exchange
which are the entities which will be
eligible for
listing on the social stock exchange so
there are
uh you know certain eligibility norms
and let me give you some important ones
only in the interest of time
so the first one is that an entity
who is engaged in uh you know
social creating social impact who has a
social intent
that should be its primary goal and we
have drawn a list of 15 eligible
activities
which are again you know going back to
sdgs and
also the need the io work
uh so that is point number one you know
you have to be an entity which is
genuinely having an intent to create
impact
next let`s look at some quantitative
numbers
those who will be eligible to list
especially the non-profits so there are
two criterias one is
you know you should have a minimum fund
raise
of rupees 10 lakhs and minimum annual
spend
of rupees 50 lakhs in the past financial
year
this may seem high if you see from
smaller ngo perspective but let me add
and that`s very important
we also have lower thresholds of rupees
5 lakhs
for fundraising a year and 25 lakhs
for will spend in a year this is a
category
which will be called aspiring to
this on social stock exchange
now you may have the aspiration but you
may not be familiar with this you know
complex financial world in terms of how
to list how to make use of the new
platform
so there we have a very good suggestion
the capacity building fund one capacity
building there`s a proposal to set up a
capacity building fund
the corpus size that has been indicated
is 100 crores
so that capacity building fund will
assist
these entities which are aspiring to
list on the social stock exchange so i
think it`s
the interest of smaller entities has
been very much kept in mind by
developing our recommendations
let me also add another important
dimensions how do the stock markets for
bulldozer they work on the principle of
disclosure right so any entity so when
you come even if you are non-profit
if you are coming to a stock exchange
for the purpose of fundraise
so you have to have certain discipline
you will have to be more transparent in
terms of what you do
you will have to be more accountable you
know uh
to the investors who are or other
stakeholders who are invested in you
so i think it offers a great opportunity
to my mind uh to various
uh it`s not a question of elite
anonymity to anybody who`s interested in
better governance better transparency
better accountability to come and list
here
and create a niche for itself so it`s a
unique opportunity we`ll see how where
we land on this
the project has just gone off the
drawing board and you know
we still have some way to go yeah in
fact
we set up helper ngo back in 2000
and our objective since then has been to
increase uh transparency in the social
sector uh
just wanted to add a quick question
yours you were mentioning that
one of the eligibility criteria
requirements is
you know the average for the funds
raised in the last financial year
so uh we`ve submitted our comments uh
you know to the technical groups uh
report on the ssc
and that was another suggestion that
we`ve made that you could probably
consider
the average of state three financial
years like in the case of csr
to you know exclude exceptional items so
maybe that`s something that say we could
consider
george we`ve received your comment i
remember so we
would look at that great um also
in the sse report sebi has highlighted
mutual fund funding structures for ngos
like
the hdfc cancer fund or help your ngo
systematic giving plan
and quantum smile facility could you
also give us a flavor
of uh the innovative structure that sebi
is considering under the sse
yeah i`m happy to do that so you know
before i
talk about the innovative financial
structures or instruments
uh let me share with you you know
uh uh just uh
some perspective on where does cb fit
into all this
i mean why is sebi getting into the
social sector so to say
so uh so see
there are two two parts to to this one
is the indian securities market the
indian stock market
as we all know is very well developed
right
uh it has we figured in the top ten
markets of the world
uh we compared with the best in the
world in terms of
you know the institutional
infrastructure the products the
practices
uh the regulatory structure all that we
compare very well
so we have the point i`m trying to try
to make is that we have
uh expertise as sebi i`m saying we have
a lot of expertise in this space
on the other hand you`re moving to the
need for
you know funding the sdgs or funding the
development goals and so on
you can`t just leave it to the
government spending and the conventional
sources of finance you need to explore
social capital philanthropic capital
patient capital whatever you want to
call it you know you need tons of it
so the idea the thinking behind the
social stock exchange initiative was
that
on the one hand you have a good
securities market infrastructure
on the other hand you have need for
developmental funds
can these two marry so you know can you
can this infrastructure serve the cause
of the social sector by
facilitating fundraise through stock
exchange mechanism
so basically you know
can we develop some new structures and
mechanism within the securities market
or can we improvise on our existing
mechanisms and so on so these are the
questions that we asked the expert group
and the group came up with a variety of
you know recommendations on
number of instruments that can be
deployed and
just to give you a quick uh reference
we have social impact bonds and
development impact
social impact funds i`m sorry
development impact bonds
zero coupon zero principal bonds and
then we have this donations through
mutual fund root
i will not go into these details one can
refer to the report and read all of this
but let me pick one which i personally
like a lot and that is the mutual fund
structure
so that`s a very simple structure
so the the expert group has recommended
you know mutual fund industry can
actually utilize that
and how does it work so uh we have two
well-known examples
let me illustrate again with examples
one is the htfc
although i should not name any
particular fund but there are not many
so i have to unconstrain
stfc cancer cure fund where the
investors can choose to donate
the interest income you know arising
from their investments
either fully or partially you can just
have to sign off
and you know then the rest of it is
taken here and the funds go to the
indian cancer society
second is the quantum so so uh
quantum mutual fund smile facility where
help your ngo is also involved
and that again enables investors to
redeem
part of their units for donation to ngos
which
are registered and i believe some sort
of oversight you have through your ngo
on them
so which again gives me as an investor
some comfort that my money is going to
the right place
so i think i like the simple the
simplicity of this structure is very
easy to understand very convenient
to operate when i`m investing in mutual
funds i can i simply have to sign off on
all of this
so i think there`s a need for more such
uh funds to come i just pause there
absolutely absolutely i agree with you
um i
i would also like to highlight the
difference in the two so
one obviously with the systematic giving
plan facility that we`ve started with
quantum via the smile facility
there is no locking period uh the
principle is not repaid back to the
investors the whole objective
is to you know donate uh say 10 annually
over a period of time to non-profits and
also uh with quantum we`ve covered
six different sectors pan india these
are non-profits working pan
india so it`s not i mean the funds are
not focused to say one uh
ngo or one cause it`s spread across
different causes
and on supporting non-profits working
across several sdgs
with this i would like to quickly give
you a brief about our
products that emerged touched upon
let me just uh share my screen hold on
so help your ngo launch two products
uh the systematic giving plan and your
red button
with the aim of building a corpus for
ngos
and thereby helping them achieve the
sdgs
now let`s discuss why is it important to
create a corpus
university endowments and foundations in
countries like
the uk and the usa invest their corpus
for
long-term capital appreciation and
typically the capital distributions from
them
fund thirty to fifty percent of their
annual operating budgets
here we`ve taken uh the example of
howard university`s endowment
now imagine if ngos could rely on a
similar pool of capital
we built our products uh to create a
steady stream of fun flows for ngos
thereby um you know enabling them to
focus on their work
and not waste resources on one reason
so how can you help it`s simple answer
this question
are you a mutual fund investor if yes
then
sgp the systematic giving plan is for
you and if no
then your red button is the product for
you
now what is sgp sgp is a
first of its kind initiative in the
world which
enables mutual fund investors to
contribute 10 percent of their
investments
to wetted ngos so in simple terms uh
like you currently have the growth and
dividend units there will be sgp
units and 10 percent of only the sgp
corpus is
donated annually there is complete
flexibility and no lock-in period
so in case the investor suddenly needs
the funds parked under fgp
one can simply switch back to the uh you
know funds in under growth or dividend
units
in uh 2018 quantum was the first
fund house kind enough to allow sgp to
be the first pilot with them
via the smile facility moving on to the
lgp process
there are three easy steps step one
invest in the eligibles comes
schemes of the mutual funds for example
uh there are six schemes
for the quantum investors uh step two on
the payout date
every year ten percent of the lgbt
corpus is uh donated to the selected
ngos
and step three help your ngo offers
end-to-end
services so right from wetting the ngos
and issuing donation receipts
to sharing program reports we did some
calculations
and even if just one percent of the
current aum in the equity funds
is moved to sgp units and 10 percent of
it is disbursed to ngos
that would mean 1500 crore rupees
being disbursed to vetted ngos every
year
to further the sdgs now that is the
potential on cascading impact of sgp
while we have partnered with quantum so
far uh we are also encouraging other
fund houses to adopt sgp
and a push from sebby for this will
definitely help
uh now let`s understand what your red
button is
it is a one-click solution to create a
corpus for ngos
moving on to the audit button process
just like sgp
there are three simple steps you click
on your red button and donate
the funds are invested in semi-approved
mutual funds
every year around 10 of the corpus is
disbursed to wetted ngos
and helper ngo shares the donation
receipts and program reports
now apart from individuals even
corporates may choose to adopt your red
button
by simply incorporating the your red
button logo
on their home page uh you know which
will offer their users and clients an
option to support credible ngos and
further the sdgs
but like i mentioned earlier it is a
one-click solution
now why is it important to support these
products
firstly they offer an opportunity to
help achieve the sdgs
both our product i mean both the
products are simple
plug-in launch mechanisms available for
adoption to all fund houses and
corporates
um everything is customizable so right
from the ngo grantees percentage
contribution
in fact even the payoff schedule and we
have seamlessly completed
three payouts cycles for both the
products
and know that the back-end mechanisms
are working perfectly
uh we are proud to share that sgp
received the award for the best social
impact initiative in 2018.
uh thank you so much for patiently
listening
we`ve shared links to both our products
uh in the chat box
and a lot of questions have been pouring
in for the panelists uh so let`s quickly
move to the last segment of our webinar
the q a session
i hope uh it`s okay with all of the
panelists if we just extend of the
webinar by say 10 minutes
so we can say take one or two questions
for panelists
great uh chirag the first question is
for you
how has the esg fund performed so far
as compared to the other alternative
investment funds managed by you
so uh each fund kind of performs as per
its own mandate invests and performs as
per expanded but if you look at the esg
fund for example we launched in july
2019
and it`s been a short track report of
less than two years
but if you were uh to dissect it because
if you look at the last two years
it there has been a market cycle of its
own right because of covet market
shelves fell
sharply and then it recovered and
rebounded uh much sharply after that
so in this period the esg fund uh
that we offer has done excellently well
uh
and in each of the period when it fell
markets fell lower and when it rebounded
in each of the period it kind of
outperformed the traditional market
cap indices it also outperformed the esg
indexes
overall so that really tells us that you
know
if our process of es you are vetting
companies on sustainability
is working well for us it`s a very short
trek record
investors should only come into this
kind of funds with a very
long-term horizon not looking at just a
two-year track report that we have
but have a five seven-year view
let markets run through cycles and that
is where the true benefit of sustainable
investing can be reaped
so it is not a short-term product uh
though the short-term performance isn`t
excellent
but uh look have a long-term view when
you`re coming in sustainable
funds so overall uh we see that
from a risk perspective the drawdowns of
volatility has been better
uh returns have been higher so overall
on a risk adjusted performance basis the
fund has done really well
ah thanks for chirag dia
have you been able to influence your
friends and family
to follow a sustainable lifestyle
uh they are your own mute
i hope so a small example would be
when the world was open and we could
visit restaurants my nephews
before the server would bring the drink
that they`d ordered they would say
please make sure that you don`t give us
plastic straws
uh and and that would be like a moment
of trauma
i think um more and more young
people and families across india
are recognizing how important it is to
uh go back to basics live in better
harmony with nature
understand that our consumption patterns
have adverse effects on our health
and the health of the environment and
you know um
i`m going to use this opportunity to
make a request to amarjeet because i was
listening in very
keenly to everything he was saying um
and i`ve often wondered
why this hasn`t been done before but i
think this is
this is my opportunity so i`m going to
quickly jump in and say it
amajit i really want sebby to consider
because we need to build a green
recovery
from this pandemic and it is it is
definitely something that is going to
define
our present and our future in terms of
health and prosperity
to um
make a certain percentage of csr
mandatory for organizations
and actions that secure and protect
ecosystems forests and wildlife
i think a very big part of our green
recovery
and because ecosystem restoration is the
mandate of this decade
and will define everything everything
uh we must must must as a nation
make this an example you know uh the the
world leaders today i mean of course uh
the secretary general
has been appealing to uh um
countries to kind of help
uh developing nations monetarily with
contributions but i feel like we
in on our own are quite capable
of a a green recovery so long as our
policies and our government can
implement that and
enforce it in a way on uh industry
please consider this i think we`d all be
very very grateful
if it became a reality i mean yes we
could also tax carbon
but that`s a separate conversation for
another time but we should definitely
consider making
a certain fixed compass component
percentage of csr
mandatory for green recovery so thanks
sir
for that input let me first give the
bureaucratic answer
and my apologies for that so that
piece is uh actually uh
that is handled by the ministry of
corporate affairs not by savvy
maybe you can propose it to them yeah
yeah definitely so but let me also
mention you know in our new disclosure
framework
uh we have put a lot of emphasis on
disclosures relating to climate change
so you know
air emissions greenhouse gas emissions
waste management the whole range of
disclosure in fact
my colleagues were telling me there are
about 500 data points now
not just for car not just for climate
but others also all taken together
and these are all very quantitative
measurable
comparable sort of disclosure
requirements so i think
this will make a huge difference but we
have to wait and see but i`ve taken your
point but as i said
my apologies this is not strictly within
our domain
but be the man to propose it grateful
thank you
in fact the next question is for you uh
will any incentives be offered
to investors to encourage them to use
the ssc platform
so you know as i mentioned there are two
reports
on the subject and the first report
has dwelt extensively on uh on
incentives in fact during the
deliberations it was recognized that if
it has to fly
uh you have to have certain incentives
for all stakeholders so which will be
you know investors donors
and even for the platform itself and all
others who participate in this so there
are
uh certain uh you know proposals for
capital gains tax related
reliefs or securities transaction tax
related reliefs
also the on the csr you know the there
is a recommendation that
the the entities npos are the ngos which
list on ssc
they should be able to receive they
should be eligible for csr funding
similarly the companies which want to
contribute to this capacity building
fund of 100 crores which i mentioned
earlier
uh that should qualify as their you know
as a part of their csr spend so there`s
a range of
uh you know incentives which have been
proposed but
again they`re not within sebi`s domain
the different agencies who deal with it
and they`ll have to take a call
so it`s a lot of collaboration which is
required you know
on these matters absolutely
in fact i think there was mention of uh
trading of csr certificates also for
over 10 csr funds
that`s right absolutely yeah okay thanks
uh
chirag back to you what is the exit
policy for the esg
fund and have you exited any stock
because it fails to meet uh some of the
criteria after you`ve added it to your
esd portfolio
yes if you look at the esg landscape
it`s all evolving right
if you look at the mandate in terms of
information given out by corporates is
improving the practice is improving the
accountability is improving so we are
moving towards a better uh future for
sure
but uh in this uh there are a lot of
things that come to light
uh given the evolving uh scenario that
we have because of forward or any other
business challenges that they may face
there are decisions taken by the
companies and what decisions that they
take
make us evaluate us them further on what
kind of
practices that they have what kind of
actions they have taken
so all that new information we have to
absorb evaluate and analyze those
companies
so yes there are companies that we have
exited in last few years
uh given that there are more
emphasis on esg scores uh if the company
is good on esg positive score on esg
it becomes part of the portfolio we are
true to label like american said
esg funds have to be true who live we
are very much true to label and esu does
all the heavy lifting in terms of
allocation to stocks
and if the stocks that we evaluate we
kind of do a six monthly update on a
minimum on each stock
and if there is some new information
that has come to light and that`s
not uh appropriate esg behavior and that
esg
sport falls we will exit out of those so
we have kind of
moved out of a few stocks over the last
two years
given their scores fell there for
example i`ll give you
not naming the company but there was a
company which kind of
stopped disclosing a lot of information
they kind of stopped engaging with us
engaging we think is a very essential
thing uh because
that is where we can nudge companies to
become more better they cannot be
complacent and stay where they are they
have to improve
and uh if the company doesn`t engage
doesn`t give us more information
or any information that they stop it
becomes difficult for us to evaluate
that company
and that is why where we are forced to
move out of those companies
so uh i think uh yes there will be exits
there will be as few information comes
you will absorb
analyze and and take our portfolio
actions as may be necessary
thanks chirag uh there is one question
on sgp which i can take
is there an option to choose the
percentage and join
particular scheme of mutual funds so
like i was mentioning earlier so far
under fgp we`ve only partnered with
quantum mutual fund and for their
investors there is a fixed percentage a
ten percent contribution
uh made to six different ngos of your
choice
annually um okay emerging uh there`s
one question for you current semi norms
don`t allow crowdfunding of
financial lease transactions unless they
are through an nbfc
which increases cost of finance for a
company
can sebby quickly act on this and come
up with a regulation
so if i understand the question right um
probably the uh being asked is why don`t
we have crowdfunding right
so there are you know um there are
issues
around that mainly pertaining to
investor protection
so this has been considered in the past
and our conclusion was
uh we we need to watch out this space
and you know
and perhaps you are not ready but i i
mean i do take it as an input and
uh we will see thanks thanks amarjeet
um i know we haven`t been able to take
all questions but i`m sorry we`re
running short of time
so we`ll have to end the q a now i`d
like to take
uh i`d like to make a special
announcement uh that help your ngo will
be donating
one lakh rupees to the wildlife trust of
india
and uh with this i`d like to thank our
speakers
dia amarjeet and chirag
ngo for sparing time to speak with us
today and sharing valuable insights
i thoroughly enjoyed this discussion and
i`m sure
all of the attendees did as well thank
you all for signing up and attending
this webinar uh special thanks to
quantum for assisting us in hosting this
and it`s been an absolute uh pleasure
being with all of you today and thank
you have a great evening
thank thank you thank you really nice
meeting everyone and thank you to
everybody who joined thank you so much
thank you
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