P&G India increases spending on women-led businesses to Rs 500 crore by 2025

Besides, P&G India will improve the accessibility of its brand advertising, including social media content and websites, by making it accessible to people with sight and hearing impairments by 2024.
Procter and Gamble products. ( File Photo)
Procter and Gamble products. ( File Photo)

NEW DELHI: FMCG major Procter & Gamble (P&G) on Tuesday announced new commitments as part of its efforts to strengthen equality and inclusion in India and increased the total spending to support women-led businesses to Rs 500 crore by 2025.

Last year, P&G India - which owns power brands including Ariel, Tide, Whisper, Gillette, Oral B, head & shoulders and Vicks - had committed a Rs 300 crore to spend while working with women-owned and women-led businesses from 2021 to 2025.

"With already more than Rs 200 crore invested through this initiative in the first year across India, the company is now elevating this commitment to Rs 500 crore by 2025," P&G India said in a statement.

It will introduce the 'P&G ReLaunch program' to welcome back talented professionals who took a break from the workforce and are looking to restart their careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) roles with targeted support and development.

"This programme is part of the company's commitment to strengthening diversity in STEM and will focus on people looking to relaunch their careers in IT, Research and Development, and Product Supply," P&G said on Tuesday at its third annual #WeSeeEqual summit.

Besides, P&G India will improve the accessibility of its brand advertising, including social media content and websites, by making it accessible to people with sight and hearing impairments by 2024.

"The company will do this for all new brand advertising across India. This initiative will make P&G brands more inclusive and accessible to all members of our community," it said.

The company would also introduce 'P&G Shiksha Betiyan Scholarship Program' to provide financial aid and mentorship to girls willing to pursue STEM education.

"This programme will be introduced across 50 plus colleges including technical institutes, undergraduate colleges and postgraduate universities. The programme will be aimed at underprivileged girls and will provide them with financial support and mentorship as they pursue STEM education," it said.

P&G Indian Subcontinent CEO Madhusudan Gopalan said the company has made strong progress in driving equality and inclusion by taking deliberate actions that break barriers and tackle biases that hold society back.

"This year, taking this further, we are announcing bold actions and new commitments and also expanding existing ones which will enable us to play an active role in driving equality and inclusion in society."

"We will continue to leverage the voice of our company and brands to raise awareness on issues that matter and partner with expert organisations and individuals to address them," he added.

In 2021, P&G had announced its 'Share the Care' parental leave policy, which introduced greater leave benefits and flexibility for all new parents within the company. P&G had also extended its company-offered benefits to partners of LGBTQ+ employees, he said.

"On its commitment to educate more than 2.5 crore girls on puberty and hygiene by 2024, through its Whisper Menstrual Health and Hygiene program, P&G has already educated more than 1 crore girls."

"In line with its commitment to drive equality behind the camera and increase diversity in the creative pipeline, in the past year, nearly 40 per cent of P&G's advertising films were directed by female directors," Madhusudan added.

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