Mumbai, March 19, 2026 — In a bid to strengthen financial empowerment and social security among on-ground workers in the construction and painting sectors, Birla Opus Paints, part of Grasim Industries under the Aditya Birla Group, has rolled out Project Samarth — a pan-India initiative designed to expand awareness and access to government welfare schemes for painters and contractors.
Despite a raft of central government social protection programs, low awareness and complex enrolment processes have historically limited participation among informal sector labourers. Project Samarth seeks to bridge this gap by organising on-ground financial awareness camps that provide guided education and real-time enrolment support for key schemes such as e-Shram, Ayushman Bharat, Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana, and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana.
Over recent months, the programme has completed camps in major cities, including Bangalore, Pune, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow and Mumbai, facilitating assisted registrations and helping simplify access to welfare benefits that many workers previously found difficult to navigate.
To date, Project Samarth has enabled enrolment of more than 5,000 painters and contractors, offering not just access but hands-on support. Organisers say the camps not only educate participants on eligibility and documentation requirements but also help complete on-the-spot registrations.
A key component of the initiative is the rollout of Yojana Cards — personalised welfare access cards with unique QR codes that enable workers to digitally monitor their participation in multiple government schemes through a single dashboard. The platform also allows beneficiaries to explore additional programs and manage future enrolments independently.
“At Birla Opus Paints, our relationship with painters and contractors goes far beyond products and programmes. Project Samarth underscores our commitment to community well-being and long-term financial stability,” said Srikanth SK, Head – Customer Experience, reflecting the company’s intent to deepen engagement with grassroots stakeholders.
Such private-sector-led empowerment programmes could help strengthen the financial resilience of informal workers, a critical segment in India’s vast construction and services ecosystem. While corporate social responsibility efforts are not new, direct facilitation of government welfare access at scale is being watched as a potentially replicable model across other labour-intensive industries.
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