/reporting/Tata Steel

Partnering Tata Steel’s integrated reporting journey

The Tata Steel group is a global business enterprise with presence in over 150 countries. Being the world’s second-most geographically diversified steel producer, Tata Steel operates in 26 countries, with employees across five continents and a commercial presence in over 50 countries. In its 110th year of operations, the Tata Steel brand has come to epitomise corporate responsibility. In the 2016-17 Integrated Report, the Company wanted to echo the vastness of its scale and the magnanimity of its corporate philosophy, while articulating the consistent value creation for all its stakeholders over the years.

A pioneer in many aspects of steelmaking and an industry benchmark on many parameters, Tata Steel adopted Integrated Reporting in FY 2015-16. AICL was its partner of choice for this initiative. For its second Integrated Report, the Company wanted to demystify the intricacies of its strategy and depict content simplistically for easy interpretation by all stakeholders across the board. Guided by the previous year’s experience, AICL helped present the report in a format which unfolded each story by linking it to the relevant strategic priority of the Company. Each strategic focus area was further associated with the specific types of capital resources used and the contributions made towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through the business’ actions.

Another key step in presenting the information holistically was the portrayal of interlinkages between the different ‘capitals’ used and the strategy. This interconnectedness of strategy, resources used, and business actions clearly outlined the Company’s 'value creation' model for its stakeholders. A scientifically designed project, the guiding principles of the Integrated Reporting framework were duly met, driven by a well-coordinated effort among different departments of the Company, including Sustainability, the Secretarial Division and Corporate Communications, with AICL’s involvement at all the key planning stages.

Maintaining the right balance of iconography and imagery of product, asset and human elements, the design intervention uniquely displayed diverse ways in which Tata Steel touches lives. AICL’s expertise in content, copywriting, editing and designing led to the creation of this report which effortlessly simplified information while retaining the crux, despite its scale and complexity.