Vedanta

STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS

COMMUNICATING
CONSTRUCTIVELY

We introduced strategic communications as the fourth pillar of our Sustainable Development Model, in order to reflect the proactive communications with stakeholders, understand their needs, shape their expectations as well as share our intentions, commitments and actions.

We operate with the belief that businesses are not isolated entities, and the growth of our stakeholders is instrumental for the growth of the business. In every decision, we emphasise on our principles of stakeholder dialogue and mutual respect.

We are committed to complete transparency in our communication with all our stakeholders. The bedrock of our communication is how we engage with the communities in and around our assets and practise the principle of free prior informed consent. This ensures harmony and sustains our social licence to operate. To maintain open dialogue, it is equally important to engage with our employees who generally belong to our host communities as well as with the influencer communities which include media, the local governments and the socially relevant investors.

The Nand Ghar model will provide targeted delivery of supplementary nutrition services along with related healthcare services for both mother and child including skill training for women.

Mrs. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi
Union Cabinet Minister - Women
& Child Development, India

We are present across eight countries in four different continents. All these regions differ in terms of operational and geographic challenges, business environment, economic development, culture and stakeholder expectations. We believe in 'One Vedanta' - together, we are one organisation with one vision. The goal is to ensure that the organisation communicates in one-voice across geographies on critical issues across the stakeholder spectrum.

Strategic communication is part of the business strategy of the organisation and the top leadership is actively engaged in leveraging new- age communication tools to promote dialogue and create resonance with the Vedanta brand. This year a comprehensive branding exercise was taken up to provide holistic and authentic 'One Vedanta' experience to stakeholders in all the ways they interact with the organisation. The logo refresh has also been adapted by all the divisions/group companies to align with the Group's goal of being a unifying brand across its global operations.

We prepare communication strategies and plans to achieve outcomes and continually measure the perceptions created by our transparent communication with all stakeholders. This communication roadmap guides our employees on what, how and whom to communicate with, and ensures a robust two-way engagement with our stakeholders.

Unified Brand

ONE VISION. ONE VEDANTA

Unified branding has strengthened the linkage between our global businesses, communities and stakeholders, and is a significant milestone that promises a united vision and aligned identity. It empowers us to work in an integrated manner, leverage internal synergies, and create additional value for all stakeholders.

During the reporting year, our Chairman interacted with the employees across continents in a virtual town hall meeting. The Sustainability Committee Chairman, Group CEO and sustainability team along with senior leaders met the socially relevant investors in our first sustainability day in London. CEOs of our businesses participated in conferences such as Indaba, World Economic Forum's Annual meeting at Davos and leading business summits by CII, FICCI & TERI to meet a host of stakeholders and create awareness of the natural resources sector contributing significantly to the economy of the country.

We communicate consistently with all our stakeholders through carefully chalked-out platforms which are best suited for each stakeholder profile. Illustrated below is a cross section of our engagement interventions carried out for various stakeholders.

COMMUNITIES

Listening to the communities, understanding their concerns and resolving issues is key to pre-empting and avoiding social conflicts. We have adopted a dual approach to community engagement - we undertake focussed CSR activities to create a positive social impact, and ensure that the benefits of these activities are well-communicated to the community and the linkage to Vedanta is well-established. We also proactively engage with communities to negate any trust deficit issues.

Leveraging the Public-Private-People-Partnership model

In a first-of-its-kind corporate partnership with the Ministry of Women and Child Development to develop 4,000 next-generation Anganwadis in India, we spearheaded Project Nand Ghar with an aim to modernise the Anganwadi infrastructure in the country.

50 Nand Ghars have already been set up this year. The first one was inaugurated by Mrs. Maneka Sanjay Gandhi, the Union Minister for Women and Child Development, India.

EMPLOYEES

Communication is vital for good human resource management. Engaging with employees makes us more productive, better aligned and more committed. It also manifests in smooth and effective functioning of the organisation. We maintain an ongoing communication with our employees through multiple programmes at various levels with multiple communication tools such as ezines, internal newsletters and social media.

Chairman's Town Hall Meeting

A virtual town hall meeting was chaired by Anil Agarwal, Founder and Chairman - Vedanta Resources, where he spoke to employees about the Company's 50-year vision to continue operations in Zambia. The interactive session was held using tele-presence and video conferencing system connecting 30 Vedanta locations in five countries.

More than 300 Konkola Copper Mines employees and about 5,000 from all Vedanta subsidiaries and businesses participated in the meeting. Employees were encouraged to ask questions and the Chairman patiently and meticulously answered them all.

REACHing out

REACH, is a platform specially instituted to enable dialogue between employees and the senior management of Sterlite Copper on employee growth aspirations. It helps senior management understand the pulse of the employees and support them to scale greater heights in their career.

Let's work together to ensure that we set an example for investment in a healthier workforce and making our business better.

Roma Balwani | President
Group Sustainability CSR and
Communications

CIVIL SOCIETY

Civil society plays an important role in shaping the nation's governance and development agenda. In our industry, they are partners in the process of identifying and resolving the challenges. We engage with the civil society in numerous ways through various forums.

Industry

Leveraging Industry Platforms

Mining Indaba is the world's largest mining investment conference and Africa's largest mining event. Vedanta first attended the Mining Indaba in 2013 with the objective of raising awareness about Vedanta in Africa. Since then, we have enlarged our presence and visibility at the conference. Mining Indaba provides us an excellent platform to engage with multiple stakeholders such as governments, investors, financial institutions, suppliers plus the media, which augurs well with our goal to expand our footprint in the continent.

Demonstrating Thought Leadership

The Queenstown Rotary Club organised West Coast Industry Conference with focus on industry's future in the region. Copper Mines of Tasmania (CMT), Australia participated as a presenter and as a sponsor of the event. All the major industries operating on the west coast including mining, tourism, aquaculture, etc. participated. The conference attracted over 150 delegates, bringing together business, industry and government representatives.

Talking the Walk at the Technical Forums

We participated in a variety of technical forums organised by us and third party organisations including:

India

CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development
The Energy Research Institute (TERI)
Federation of Indian Mining Industries (FIMI)
Indian Institute of Metals
Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FICCI)

Zambia

Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI)
Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Chamber of Mines

Namibia

Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Chamber of Mines

South Africa

International Zinc Association
Chamber of Mines

Ireland

Irish Business and Employer's Confederation Irish
Mining and Exploration Group

Our leadership team addressed various events as speakers and panellists such as The Responsible Extractive Industry Summit - London, Mining Africa Summit, CII's Safe in India 2016 Panel, TERI's Chief Sustainability Officer Conclave, and FICCI's India Sustainability Conclave.

We also contributed to the 'Business and Biodiversity in India: 20 Illustrations' report published by Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), with support from GIZ in 2014, through our provision of biodiversity case studies from HZL and Sesa Iron Ore.

Academia

Vedanta Resources interacts with the academia on a regular basis to gain access to latest research and innovative methodologies, while offering business insights and practical experience. Vedanta has an ongoing collaboration with Indiana University on various projects, including a benchmarking study with global peers which was undertaken in partnership with its School of Public and Environment Affairs (SPEA). Vedanta has also partnered with ISB Hyderabad, a leading management school in India, to make learning more effective, by sharing relevant case studies to create a connect with the natural resources sector and the Vedanta brand.

Partners

GOVERNMENT

Approval and regulation of mining and resource activities sit with the government and hence it is an important stakeholder. We continue to engage with the government right from the early stages of discovery to mine closure and beyond.

Best-in-class Mine closure

A function was organised to mark the occasion of Lisheen Mine Closure and the positive contribution it has made to the locality over the past 20 years in the Dome in Thurles. The government and community representatives, suppliers and local charities were invited. Lisheen has been a very positive experience for Vedanta and the event was organised to thank everyone involved in making the operation a success. The Lisheen mine has led the way in social responsibility and the stakeholder engagement.

Resurgent Rajasthan Partnership Summit

Top management represented Vedanta Resources at the Resurgent Rajasthan Partnership Summit, a two-day global investor meet organised by the Government of Rajasthan in association with the CII and aimed at inducing investments in the state.

Participating in the focus session on Sustainable Mining, our CEO, Mr. Tom Albanese, shared, "Rajasthan offers a huge opportunity for copper and gold mining in India. Exploration and innovation represent the future of the mining industry."

Rajasthan offers a huge opportunity for copper and gold mining in India. Exploration and innovation represent the future of the mining industry.

Tom Albanese | CEO
Vedanta Resources plc

INVESTORS & LENDERS

Both investors and lenders seek return on their investment. Volatility in the commodity markets, increased competition and resultant decrease in profit margin affects their returns. Thus, it is critical to communicate with them our plans, actions, outcomes and prospects, so that they can make informed investment decisions. While we continue to communicate with them through an array of statutory and proactive media vehicles, this year we added a new focussed engagement mechanism to communicate with SRIs, the Sustainable Development Day.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT DAY

Sustainable Development is at the core of all the business decisions and processes at Vedanta Resources. To showcase this commitment as a key business imperative, we hosted our first Sustainable Development Day in London in July 2015.

Our senior management provided insights to Socially Relevant Investors (SRIs) on how sustainability is embedded across our global operations and updated them on the progress made in the past one year. During the event, the entire senior team was in attendance to present to the investors and address their queries.

Euan Macdonald

Chairman of Vedanta's Sustainability Committee and Non-Executive Director made a presentation on committee's progress and focus areas over the year

Tom Albanese

Chief Executive Officer, Vedanta, spoke about the approach to Sustainable Development and elaborated his priorities across the triple bottom line

Roma Balwani

Vedanta's Sustainability, CSR and Communications President shared how we are putting the Sustainable Development Model into practice

The Sustainable Development Day also included case studies on sustainable development initiatives at Vedanta's operations.

Abhijit Pati | CEO - Aluminium Business

Explained how aluminium division is partnering with communities, local government and NGOs to benefit the societies in Odisha, which has the richest mineral resources of any state in India.

Deshnee Naidoo | CEO - Zinc International

Talked about the action taken to protect regional biodiversity during the development of the Gamsberg Project in South Africa, and the best practice mine closure at Lisheen in Ireland.

Steven Din | CEO - Konkola Copper Mines

Discussed the much improved relationship with the Government of Zambia which has resulted from continual engagement, and an important educational programme to reduce the prevalence of HIV/AIDs in communities and the workplace.

This was followed by a Q & A session which saw an active participation with investors sharing feedback, clarifying doubts and offering suggestions. The entire event was very well received - the participants not only recognised the virtue of organising this event but also the value of the positive impact being created by Vedanta.

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