Our supply chain is a critical component of our reputation and extended impact. We collaborate with suppliers to promote long-term transparency, sustainability, and ethical business practices.
Our suppliers are an integral part of our business success. Therefore, we understand that a reliable and sustainable supply chain is critical to sustaining our growth as an efficient and responsible business. We have 2,000+ suppliers across our locations, and those are subjected to our local sourcing norm and our Code of Conduct and Human Rights philosophy.
We rely on Indian and international supply chains that span across multiple Tiers. We source our supplies from original equipment manufacturers, either directly or from their authorised distributors. For general services, we rely on contractors who undertake end-to-end responsibility for projects.
We have implemented a Sustainable Supply Chain Framework to enhance responsible sourcing in our supply chain. Our suppliers meet and comply with our environmental, ethical, and social requirements as detailed in our contracts, and as mentioned under the Sustainable Supply Chain policy, Supplier Code of Conduct, and Mandatory Safety Standards (MSS). Our suppliers are accountable for managing risks in their operations and we also expect them to hold their suppliers accountable to the same high standards.
2,000+
Suppliers across our locations
Criteria for supplier selection
All our equipment suppliers and service providers are required to adhere to the Supplier Code of Conduct and MSS requirements as applicable from time-to-time. The Code requires that suppliers act with integrity and comply with laws and conform to the following principles:
Ethics and Transparency
Supplier must uphold honesty, integrity, and fair dealing while doing business.
Labour and Human Rights
Suppliers shall uphold the highest standards of labour and human rights and treat workers with the utmost dignity and respect. No form of forced/bonded labour or child labour should be employed.
Environment, Health and Safety
Supplier must conduct business in an environmentally responsible manner and providing a safe and healthy environment for all impacted by its operations.
Anti-corruption and Anti-bribery
Supplier must have a zero tolerance approach towards anti-corruption and anti-bribery practices.
Information Security
Supplier must comply with all applicable data privacy and information security laws and associated contractual obligations.
All our suppliers must adhere to the abovehighlighted requirements. Along with these requirements, our suppliers are required to include regular operational mandates and features relating to quality, product-specific requirements, occupational health, and safety as well as legal and ethical compliance. While selecting a new supplier or continuing a relationship with an existing supplier, we assess each supplier’s compliance with our rules on health, safety, and responsible behaviour in conjunction with our assessment of commercial factors, such as quality, cost, and ability to deliver on time. Further, we also assess our strategic and key identified suppliers on various sustainability parameters through an ESG checklist. Suppliers of passive infrastructure are also regularly evaluated for their environmental performance. This is an important criterion for the selection of a supplier, along with other commercial aspects.
The Supply Chain Management (SCM) Policy of our Company also ensures that we select suppliers who comply with applicable legal and regulatory obligations, are committed to ethical behaviour, and engage in fair market practices. Suppliers who are found to violate the Code, to have engaged in unethical behaviour, or to have violated laws are barred from being our Company’s suppliers in the future.
Supplier coverage and spend 1
Our spend is spread across various categories based on business and customer needs:
We also categorise our suppliers based on their wallet share of spend in Tata Communications. Suppliers are divided into 3 categories2, where the % of supplier in each category is:
Category A
7.2%
Category B
21.4%
Category C
71.4%
We spend US $391.25 million (INR 2,914.80 crore) for the procurement of equipment and services, with over 1,700+ direct suppliers around the world geographically3 to support our operations and meet customer needs:
India
62%
Europe
12%
America
14%
AMEA
11%
1 Tata Communications total supplier base is 2,027. However, the same supplier supplies to multiple categories based on
product applicability. Tata Communications has 177 such suppliers.
2 ABC analysis is used to place suppliers in 3 categories. Where suppliers covering 80% of spend are considered in Category
A, spending between 79% to 65% is considered in category B, and the balance in Category C.
3 Tata Communications total supplier base is 2027 suppliers. However, the same supplier supplies to multiple regions. Tata
Communications has 88 such suppliers.
Sustainable supply chain framework
Our ability to identify, assess, and mitigate supply chain risks is critical in developing long-term supply chains. Risks in the supply chain can disrupt our operations, lowering our overall organisational performance. Tata Communications ensures that the suppliers, who they conduct business with, are also in compliance with all the laws and regulations around environmental, social and governance-related aspects. Before signing agreements, thorough due diligence is performed to ensure that the supplier shares the same values and principles as Tata Communications. The contract also includes sections on the Company’s values and assurances that they are not being violated. This year, we have rolled out a comprehensive Sustainability Supply Chain Framework for our operational teams by integrating the all-encompassing sustainability parameters of our supply chain and formulating a framework that comprises three tools of implementation:
1. Sustainable supply chain policy: The policy is a vision document that aims to promote sustainability for our suppliers and business partners.
2. Supplier Code of Conduct: The supplier Code of Conduct (‘Code’) outlines Tata Communications expectations for supplier conduct in relation to five primary principles: Ethics and Transparency, Labour and Human Rights, Environment, Health and Safety, Anti-corruption and Anti-bribery, and Information Security. Our Supplier Code of Conduct and Sustainable Supply Chain Policy are available online.
3. ESG checklist for suppliers: The checklist is used to evaluate the ESG-related practices of Tata Communications suppliers/business partners on an annual basis. Based on the ESG checklist, we also determine the sustainability score of our suppliers to comprehensively evaluate sustainability practices within our Company’s key and strategic supplier network.
At Tata Communications, we expect our suppliers to uphold the sustainability vision endorsed in the Company’s sustainable supply chain policy, and follow our core principles given in the Supplier Code of Conduct by consenting to adhere to our policy and Code before commencing business with us. We will continue to screen our suppliers and contractors on ESG parameters as part of our due diligence procedure, and strengthen our monitoring mechanisms in place to rigorously monitor their sustainability performance and create scalable impact.
Fostering supplier diversity
Tata Communications recognises the significant role of service providers in supporting our Company’s affirmative action agenda. Therefore, in 2020, we revised our supply chain management policy to enhance the focus on greater diversity and inclusion of AA. We remain committed to identifying newer ways of enabling entrepreneurship amongst AA members, and have identified addressable procurement areas which can be offered to entrepreneurs from AA communities. In order to better monitor our efforts, we have also started a system-based tracking of baseline data of engagement with AA vendor partners. Continuing to be committed to increasing our AA vendorpartner base, Tata Communications has also reached out to the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) to explore possibilities of linking AA vendor-partners of the DICCI network with Tata Communications supply value chain vendors.
Supporting small business
Tata Communications recognises its role and responsibility to support and encourage smaller, local companies as well as those under-represented in the industry. Though our main suppliers are multinationals, we aim to create sustainable livelihoods through our operations by emphasising on local procurement of goods and services, and by creating a diverse supplier base. In the reporting year, we spent US $391.25 million (INR 2,2914.80 million) on orders, out of which 73% were locally procured across all the primary regions i.e., India, America, AMEA, and Europe, where our Company has a presence.
73%
Procurement budget spent on sourcing local goods and services
