Mumbai, Mar 23: On World Water Day, Standard Chartered reaffirmed its commitment to helping communities across India to build resilience to climate and water-related challenges by aiming to make 92 additional villages water secure by end of March 2027, benefitting nearly 21,000 households across seven states. This initiative will be delivered as part of the Bank’s flagship community investment programme in India, WASHE (Water, Sanitation, Hygiene, and Education), which focuses on sustainable water management, improved sanitation, and community empowerment, with a strong emphasis on gender inclusion.
These 92 villages are situated in the states of Karnataka, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Ladakh, Odisha and Jharkhand.
Other key water-related projects that will be delivered as part of the WASHE programme over the next two years include:
- Constructing 983 new water harvesting structures and creating a water holding capacity of 4,621 thousand cubic metres across Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan
- Helping irrigate an additional 3,598 hectares of land and set up 389 research oriented aquatic systems across Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan
- Constructing 294 farm ponds, 95 borewells, and 13 percolation ponds
- Establishing 28 water-secure gram panchayats in Odisha.
Designed to address water challenges at scale, the WASHE programme operates across diverse and challenging geographies from the deserts of Rajasthan to the high-altitude regions of Ladakh while also supporting tribal and socio-economically vulnerable communities.
Standard Chartered’s WASHE programme currently spans 17 districts across states including Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
The programme has helped make 879 villages across 38 districts water secure, benefiting communities across Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and the Union Territory of Ladakh. This has been achieved through a range of Bank-funded initiatives, implemented in collaboration with our NGO partners, including the installation of water harvesting structures and solar-powered water ATMs (water vending machines), treatment of grey water, and irrigation support to enhance agricultural productivity of local farmers, among others.
A core pillar of the initiative is strengthening community institutions for long-term sustainability. Since 2020, 2,690 community groups have been formed and strengthened to support local governance of water resources and sanitation systems.
During this period, significant water infrastructure has been developed under the programme, with 5,769 water conservation and harvesting structures created, generating an annual freshwater capacity of 218.4 crore litres. Overall, since 2020, the WASHE programme has reached over 20.7 lakh beneficiaries, nearly 47% of whom are women, while also training 70,153 community members to strengthen local leadership and sustainability.
Karuna Bhatia, Head of Sustainability, India, Standard Chartered, said, “Reliable access to safe water is the foundation for creating healthy, resilient communities and sustainable livelihoods. Through our WASHE programme, we are working closely with communities, local institutions and partners, as part of our strategy to create scalable and self-sustaining solutions that address water security, climate resilience and sanitation challenges. On World Water Day, we reaffirm our commitment to empowering communities across India with sustainable water management solutions that can create lasting impact.”
