NGO Founder
In 2000, Malini founded the Indian and UK non-profit, Centre for Social Markets (CSM), to engage and mobilise Indian and non-western companies, as well as Indian diaspora business in the UK and elsewhere, in the emerging corporate citizenship / corporate social responsibility and socially responsible investment (SRI) movements. CSM was one of the pioneers of these movements in India. With offices in Calcutta, Delhi and Bangalore, CSM worked with major household names such as Tata, as well as small, medium and micro-enterprises and their federations at a national level.
CSM’s international conference on corporate citizenship in 2001, held in Calcutta with support of the Government of West Bengal, was India’s first ever carbon neutral event of its type. Partnering with the UK company, Future Forests, to certify the carbon footprint of the conference, CSM started a long-term process of awareness raising of climate change, climate risk and climate security with Indian business, entrepreneurs and city leaders.
In 2007, CSM published Malini’s influential pamphlet, Climate Change: Why India needs to take leadership setting out a proactive leadership agenda for India on climate change, and launched the Climate Challenge India initiative, holding public debates and dialogues with prominent businesspeople, politicians, city leaders, scientists and civil society organisations across India. As part of this, Malini produced the film, In Good Company, profiling Indian corporate leaders and eco-entrepreneurs on climate change. The film was launched at the Copenhagen Business Summit ahead of COP15,the UNFCCC Copenhagen climate summit in 2009. CSM also continues to host the India Climate Portal started as part of the Climate Challenge India campaign.
