Table of Contents
HYDERABAD, India – Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd. has been recognized for gender equality and sustainability in multiple rankings.
The drugmaker has been included in the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index (GEI) 2023 for a sixth consecutive year. It is the only Indian pharma company on the list, which includes 484 companies representing 11 sectors, 45 countries and a market capitalization of $16 trillion. The index measures gender equality across internal company statistics, employee policies, external community support and engagement, and gender-conscious product offerings. The Bloomberg GEI reporting framework includes over 70 metrics, each allocated to one of the following five pillars:
• Leadership and talent pipeline
• Equal pay and gender pay parity
• Inclusive culture
• Anti-sexual harassment policies
• External brand.
Adding to its honors, Dr. Reddy’s has been included as a member of the Sustainability Yearbook 2023 for a third consecutive year based on the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment (CSA). The CSA covers assessment of 61 industries, 7,800 companies, 140,000 documents and 14 million data points. To earn inclusion, companies must score within the top 15% of their industry and must achieve an S&P Global Sustainability Score within 30% of their industry’s top-performing company.
Last year, Dr. Reddy’s adopted bold social goals as part of its Environment, Social, Governance (ESG) agenda to contribute to a fairer and more socially inclusive world through diversity, equity and inclusion measures _ at least 35% women in senior leadership by 2030; gender parity across the organization by 2035; 3% of the workforce to be persons with disabilities by 2030; and 100% living wages for on-premise extended workforce by 2025. Through the
course of the year, the company introduced several measures to increase the proportion of women in leadership, in key business units, and to create an environment to support the hiring of women in ‘non-traditional’ areas such as sales and operations. The concerted efforts towards gender equality helped the company achieve year-on-year improvement in its score.
Based on the CSA and further screening criteria, Dr. Reddy’s was also named among global sustainability leaders for the 7th year in a row in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) in the Emerging Markets category, highlighting its value-creation and risk-mitigation ESG potential. The DJSI Emerging Markets Index represents the top 10% of the 800 largest companies in 20 emerging markets based on long-term economic, environmental and social criteria.
“We are pleased to earn continued recognition from prestigious global bodies such as S&P Global, DJSI and Bloomberg GEI,” said Dr. Reddy’s cochairman and managing director G.V. Prasad. “We have consciously attempted to set ourselves bold goals in order to contribute meaningfully to the shaping of a sustainable, fair and inclusive society. We started our sustainability journey two decades ago. Last year marked a major shift in our approach. Our ESG goals expanded from a heavy emphasis on environment to cover all aspects of ESG – environmental stewardship, helping patients, employees and community, and corporate governance.
“We moved from a good-to-do approach to placing ESG right at the core of our business strategy. This led to the adoption of distinctive patient-centric goals on access, affordability and innovation for patients. By making our goals clear and measurable, we have created strong accountability. With 20 years of leadership in sustainability in Indian industry, we see it as our responsibility to set the bar high and deliver on these ambitious targets.”
As an early adopter of Environment Social Governance (ESG) actions as well as voluntary disclosures on sustainability, Dr. Reddy’s released its first Sustainability Report in the year 2004. Subsequently, the company introduced a ‘sustainability by design’ approach in its operations in 2013.
Over the years, Dr. Reddy’s’ efforts in various aspects of ESG such as waste minimization, water management, carbon emissions, transparent governance, investment in people development and other areas saw industry-leading initiatives such as zero liquid discharge, zero waste to landfills and Self-Managed Teams. The company adopted its first set of ESG goals in 2010 followed by its materiality assessment in 2020. The same year, Dr. Reddy’s became the first pharma company in India and the third in Asia to join the Science-based Targets initiative (SBTi) to reduce its carbon footprint. In 2022, Dr. Reddy’s announced its new ESG goals. Among recent recognitions, in December 2022, Dr. Reddy’s Foundation was recognised by the President of India for its work in empowering persons with disabilities.
For more on Dr. Reddy’s ESG goals, please visit: https://www.drreddys.com/business-responsibility-and-sustainability.
