This was announced by Kapil Wadhawan, managing director, DHFL, while speaking at the launch of a series of simultaneous blood donation camps across 25 cities — a first in the annals of the Indian corporate sector.

The novel CSR was undertaken to pay tributes to DHFL late chairman Rajesh Kumar Wadhawan on the occasion of his birth anniversary.

Kapil Wadhawan said the late chairman and founding father of the company was keen on working for the common man, which was why he set up the housing finance company to help people realise their dreams of owning shelter. "Education was always very dear to his heart, and the foundation will be a lasting tribute to his memory."

V Raghunathan, president, ING Vysya Bank, was the chief guest at Mumbai''s blood donation camp held at DHFL head quarters at Bandra-Kurla Complex. DHFL director Ashok Kumar Gupta and Bandra-Kurla Complex police station''s senior police inspector Darryl D''Souza were the guests of honour.

"In India, we have witnessed shortage of blood and this time of the year appears to be bad as far as stock in various blood banks and hospitals is concerned," Wadhawan pointed out. "Drop by drop all of us should contribute to the cause."

DHFL''s initiative across the country has received tremendous response and the company has tied up with the Indian Red Cross and other NGOs working with hospitals to collect blood.

The other centres where the blood donation camp was held included: Thane, New Delhi, Jaipur, Indore, Bhopal, Raipur, Baroda, Ahmedabad, Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Akola, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Belgaum, Hubli, Bangalore, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai and Gulbarga.