Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in India: A Review

Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a concept, which states that private corporation or public organisation has a responsibility to the society they belong to. It minimises the cost as well as risks, thereby, increasing the brand value and reputation of the company. According to Howard Bowen (pp. 3), "CSR refers to the obligations of businessmen to pursue those policies to make those decisions or to follow those lines of relations which are desirable in terms of the objectives and values of our society." The CSR activities need to be in tune with effective strategic policies so that the aim of sustainable environmental, social and economic progress may be achieved. This article seeks to explain various initiatives taken in the field of CSR by the different companies of India. In doing so, it discusses the growth and the key challenges faced while trying to deliver the activities of CSR.

How Many Shades Are There in Sustainable Finance?

“…The cluster groups ethical investment practices (responsible investment, socially responsible investing), principles (governance), and outcomes (corporate social performance, environmental performance, environmental (ESG), social and governance performance, and social performance) within the broader CSR and ESG spectrums-that are used by managers within financial institutions to maximize the value of organizations. Over the last few years, CSR has attracted social sciences researchers' attention (Auld et al, 2008;Jaysawal & Saha, 2015;Nguyen et al, 2020) and has become one of the most significant aspects of the business industry (Amran et al, 2017;Bing & Li, 2019). The concept takes into consideration the interests of all stakeholders (Diez-Cañamero et al, 2020).…”

How different are corporate social responsibility motives in a developing country? Insights from a study of Indian agribusiness firms

“…In the literature, India is presented as a country with an established practice of corporate benevolence (Balasubramanian, David, & Fran, ; Jaysawal & Saha, ; Sundar, ). Therefore, the Indian context offers an apt opportunity to scrutinize the influence of CSR motives that represent peculiar national cultural and social conditions against those that the literature identifies as generic in the sense that they are energized by firms' self‐interest and the focus on the corporate value added.…”

Why State Intervention is required for Corporate Social Responsibility? An Indian Experience

“…This article intends to establish that the probability of taking CSR as a strategy increases as the firm becomes bigger and, on the other hand, the smaller firms are less likely to adopt CSR as a philanthropy. Jaysawal and Saha (2015) offer a conceptual overview on CSR and have shown the contributions of various corporate houses in CSR agenda. Though this article is a good piece from the statistical point of view, but this article did not discuss why CSR both as a policy and as a corporate practice could not attract business bodies and government for a long time.…”