IBM releases social, economic impact report

MUMBAI: An internal survey undertaken by IBM to map the social and economic impact of the company in India shows the contribution of its education initiatives that has helped bring information technology closer to target user groups and contribution of its community programmes focused around building skills and talent for tomorrow's workplace.

IBM's community programmes in India like the IBM KidSmart program has enabled more than 20,000 pre and primary school children and almost 400 teachers in underprivileged areas to have access to IT.

With an estimated investment of US$ 1.25M (approximately Rs. 5.4 crores), the IBM KidSmart program was started in 2000 and has reached a total of 108 schools of underprivileged neighborhoods in over 16 cities. IBM employees have donated more than 7000 hours through IBM's volunteering program On Demand Community to various community development initiatives shows the survey.

In keeping with IBM's commitment to developing the local community in which they operate, IBM has invested in 16 world class centers in India since 1999, that bring the cutting edge technology and innovation to the India as well offer opportunities for IT talent in India to work with some of the best minds in the technology world - across the areas of research, product development, competency building and solution delivery.

Shankar Annaswamy, country general manager, IBM India, said; "IBM has a strong commitment to the local community in which we operate. We are deeply committed to facilitating the spread of education and development of technical skills as a fundamental contribution to the overall development of India. Through our various academic and community development initiatives we are actively working to bridge the technical divide that exists in India today that prevents underprivileged sectors from accessing the new technologies."