Inconversation with Sachin Kulkarni, President- Fiserv Global Services, uncovering powerful blend of technology, inclusion, and sustainability transforming communities with measurable, future-ready impact
1. How does Fiserv in India uniquely contribute to the brand’s broader CSR vision, and what makes your approach to CSR distinctive in the financial technology sector?
Fiserv is a global leader in payments and financial technology, enabling money movement for millions of people, businesses, and financial institutions worldwide. Guided by our purpose to move money and information in ways that move the world, we drive innovation that powers the global financial ecosystem.
Global Services is Fiserv’s strategic technology hub that builds, scales, and optimizes fintech platforms for clients around the world.
At Global Services, our CSR approach is rooted in Fiserv’s vision of creating shared value within education, equity, environment, and community well-being. We bring this vision to life in India — through locally relevant, scalable initiatives that integrate business expertise with community needs. We focus on bridging gaps in education to build future-ready skills and our efforts create tangible and sustainable impact towards social inclusion, environmental sustainability, public health, and community empowerment while reflecting local priorities and context. Every initiative is data-driven, measurable, and sustainable.
Our education pillar includes initiatives such as the ‘STEM Laboratory Project’. We have been able to make STEM education accessible to over 20,000 underserved, primary and secondary school students. Building on this momentum, our ‘I Am the Change Scholarship Program’ is helping children from single-parent or parentless households complete their senior secondary and technical education.
Our Women Entrepreneurship Program has empowered numerous women through mentoring, funding, and market linkages, to grow sustainable businesses in underserved geographies. From supporting visually impaired homeless girls, to training retired Indian Army veterans in high-demand skills such as drone technology and EV maintenance, we are driving real transformation in terms of social inclusion.
Environmental stewardship remains a key pillar, with efforts like rejuvenating a 59-acre lake in Chennai, afforesting over 11 acres of urban land with 21,000 trees alongside a dedicated irrigation system for high survival, and installing rainwater harvesting systems in 16 schools, capturing over 1.23 million liters in a single season.
This impact is amplified by our associates, where ~1,000 volunteers contributed 3,500 volunteer hours in 2024–25. This integration of purpose, technology, and the passion of our associates, sets us apart in the financial technology sector.
- Your financial literacy and inclusion programs empower women in rural areas. What are some of the most impactful success stories you’ve witnessed from these initiatives?
Our financial literacy and inclusion programs have been transformative for women in underserved communities, creating pathways to economic independence and sustainable entrepreneurship. By combining skill training, seed funding, and mentoring, we have helped women not only start but also scale their businesses in sectors ranging from retail and food services to agriculture and handicrafts.
Lata, from the National Capital Region, is a single mother to a son with special needs – a challenge at so many levels. As a small entrepreneur with limited income, these challenges linger on without respite. Through the Women Entrepreneurship Program, she was able to expand her existing customer base by leveraging the training, market linkages and branding support in addition to the seed funds provided.
We feel privileged to have enabled 125 such women entrepreneurs, to build and scale sustainable ventures. What makes these stories impactful is not just the income they generate but the confidence, agency, and ripple effect they create in their communities, inspiring others to break barriers and embrace economic self-reliance.
- Employee engagement is vital for successful CSR. How does Fiserv foster a strong culture of volunteerism, and how are employees actively involved in shaping and executing these community initiatives?
At Fiserv, volunteerism is an integral part of our culture. We believe that it is the “Right Thing to Do.” As we ideate, curate, and deliver community outreach programs, our associates are consistently encouraged to remain the ‘Last Mile Delivery Agents of Change’ through active volunteerism across projects.
Across locations, our associates, from new joiners to repeat volunteers, and senior leaders come together to lead and participate in a diverse spectrum of initiatives. These include mentoring students in STEM Labs and supporting financial literacy workshops, to urban conservation drives that have planted over 20,000 saplings and nurtured them over the years. We created 12,000 seed balls to enhance the green cover remotely from within the office spaces. Multiple clean-up drives have complimented the Lake Rejuvenation Project by removing large quantities of waste.
During campaigns such as the Season of Giving, over 2,000 associates came together to share their time, skills, and resources, creating a wave of impact. Similarly, on International Women’s Day, 200 volunteers contributed 400 hours, packing 400 menstrual hygiene kits and crafting 250 handmade products for underserved women. World Conservation Day witnessed similar numbers in terms of associates leading intervention delivery for our communities and environment.
We ensure that the spirit of giving back transcends generations. Our associates’ children have been invited to our facilities to pack educational resources for underserved children across our cities. By making our associates an integral part of community outreach, we create a strong sense of ownership and purpose, ensuring that our CSR efforts are scalable, sustainable, and deeply connected to the communities we serve.
- For veterans entering the civilian workforce, how does Fiserv Global Services envision its role in supporting their long-term career transitions and ensuring their continued success through specialized skill development pathways?
At Fiserv, we recognize that the transition from military service to a civilian career requires more than just training; it requires empathy, structure, and sustainable pathways. Our ‘Veteran Skilling Program’ is designed to address these unique challenges by offering market-oriented training during the critical three-month debriefing window after retirement.
Through collaborations with regimental centers, over the past two years, we have provided over 200 retiring Indian Army veterans with specialized training in emerging and high-demand fields such as drone technology, electric vehicle maintenance, solar lighting, business management, and digital accounting tools like Tally.
Beyond technical upskilling, we recognize the unique behavioral strengths veterans bring in terms of discipline, resilience, problem-solving, and a strong sense of duty—which are directly transferable to the future workforce.
This aligns with Fiserv’s global veteran engagement strategy, which focuses on providing educational resources, mentorships, and career opportunities. By combining specialized training with these inherent qualities, we help veterans transition seamlessly into civilian life while meaningfully contributing to society.
The impact has been profound where many veterans have secured stable, well-paying jobs or launched their own enterprises, achieving financial security and a renewed sense of purpose. By combining practical skills with targeted mentorship, Fiserv is helping veterans integrate seamlessly into civilian life while continuing to contribute meaningfully to society.
- Fiserv collaborates with various non-profits. What is the philosophy behind selecting your CSR partners, and how do these collaborations create a synergistic effect that amplifies the overall social impact?
At Fiserv, partnerships are the cornerstone of our CSR strategy. Our philosophy for selecting non-profit collaborators is built on three pillars: mission alignment, credibility, and scalability. We seek partners who share our vision for long-term, sustainable change, have a proven track record of transparency and impact, and can scale programs to benefit broader communities.
For instance, our collaboration with United Way Mumbai acts as a national anchor to manage multi-location projects, ensuring uniform standards and transparent outcome tracking. At the same time, we rely on local implementation partners who bring community-level expertise, helping us achieve true last-mile delivery. This dual model allows us to drive innovation and scale with accountability while leveraging local insights to tailor programs for diverse beneficiary groups.
Working hand-in-hand with partners and grassroots organizations, we ensure every program delivers measurable outcomes, creating enduring social value beyond immediate impact.
- Looking ahead, what are Fiserv’s strategic plans for scaling these impactful programs, potentially expanding into new geographies or addressing emerging societal needs in India?
Fiserv’s CSR strategy is to deepen and scale impact across our four pillars—Education, Inclusion, Environmental Stewardship, and Health & Wellness—while ensuring every initiative grows in both reach and sustainability.
We will continue to expand access to education and future-ready skills for underserved youth, foster inclusion by creating opportunities for women and marginalized groups, strengthen environmental priorities through resource conservation and sustainable community ecosystems, and promote long-term well-being through focused health and wellness interventions.
These efforts are guided by our commitment to measurable, scalable outcomes and are closely aligned with Fiserv’s global CSR goals, ensuring that the communities we serve experience enduring social and economic value.
- How does Fiserv measure the long-term impact and sustainability of its CSR initiatives beyond immediate outputs? What key metrics or benchmarks guide your assessment of success for the 2024-26 goals?
At Fiserv, success of our CSR initiatives is measured by the tangible difference they create in people’s lives and the sustainability of that impact. For 2024–25, our primary lens is the quality and quantity of lives impacted across skilling, education, and environment programs. For example, our employment-linked skilling programs are assessed not only by how many youths are trained, but by how many secure meaningful, sustained livelihoods that improve household income. Similarly, our education interventions are measured by student progression and retention, while environmental efforts are tracked through restored green cover and water harvesting capacity.
Beyond numbers, we capture stories of transformation such as a first-generation graduate pursuing higher education, or a trained youth becoming a wage earner, because these stories inspire wider participation.
This balance of measurable outcomes and impact ensures our CSR investments remain relevant, scalable, and deeply rooted in the progress of communities around us.
