Corporate Social Responsibility: An Overview

Ashish Kr. Chaurasia

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

CSR is the continuing commitment by business :
to behave ethically;

for contribution to economic development;

for improving the quality of life of the

workforce and their families; and

to the local community and society at large

CSR is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. CSR policy functions as a built in, self-regulating mechanism A business monitors and ensures its active compliance with the spirit of the law, ethical standards and international norms. Wikipedia

Face of CSR
CSR, some times, goes beyond compliance of law; It encourages a positive impact through its activities on
Environment Consumers Employees Communities Stakeholders

Actions beyond the interest of the firm; Embraces the responsibilities for the companies actions;

Importance of CSR
Improves Public Image of the Firm Social initiatives taken by organizations tend to promote goodwill, public favour, corporate trust, profit. Improving Stock Price it gives recognition to the needs of developing countries; limiting the extent of political involvement or campaigning; donations to, or sponsorship of, the arts, educational or research institutions, sporting organizations or charities.

Importance of CSR
Assist to Government
to solve social, economical and political problems of the country.

Pressure of Consumer Movement Movement to protect consumers against business malpractices like adulteration, black marketing, unfair pricing, shortage in weight, measures, etc.

Importance of CSR
Pressure of Trade Union Relations between management and labour. Attracts and retains staff Customers are attracted to socially responsible companies Corporate Social Responsibility attracts investors Corporate Social Responsibility helps to cut your business costs

Social Accounting and Reporting

Social accounting is the communication of
Social and environmental

effects of a companys economic actions to particular interest groups within society; and to society at large

Guidelines on Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability for Central Public Sector Enterprises

Every year, each CPSE shall with the approval of its Board of Directors make a budgetary allocation for CSR and Sustainability activities/ projects for the year. The budgetary allocation will be based on the profitability of the company.

Guidelines on Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainability for Central Public Sector Enterprises
More specifically, it will be determined by the Profit After Tax (PAT) of the company in the previous year as shown below:
PAT of CPSE in the Previous Year
Range of Budgetary Allocation for CSR and Sustainability Activities (as % of PAT in Previous Year)

(i) Less than Rs. 100 crore

(ii) Rs. 100 crore to Rs. 500 crore (iii) Rs. 500 crore and above

3% - 5% 2% - 3% 1% - 2%

The Companies Bill, 2011

The bill advocates that those companies with net worth above Rs. 500 crore, or an annual turnover of over Rs. 1,000 crore, shall earmark 2 percent of average net profits of three years towards CSR. In the draft Companies Bill, 2009, the CSR clause was voluntary, though it was mandatory for companies to disclose their CSR spending to shareholders. It also suggested that company boards should have at least one female member.

CSR Practices in India

Tata Group
Tata Group in India has a range of CSR projects, most of which are :
Community improvement programs;

The company also endorses sports as a way of life:

It has established a football academy, archery academy, and promotes sports among employees. It offers healthcare services all over the country with programs like rural health development

Aptech
Aptech a leading education player with a global presence that has played a broad and continued role in encouraging and nurturing education throughout the country. Aptech has a long history of participating in community activities. It has, in association with leading NGOs, provided computers at
schools, education to the deprived, training and awareness-camps.

Mahindra & Mahindra

At Mahindra & Mahindra, The K. C. Mahindra Education Trust was established in 1953 with the purpose of promoting education. Its vision is to renovate the lives of people in India through education and financial assistance across age groups and across income strata.

Mahindra & Mahindra

The K. C. Mahindra Education Trust undertakes a number of education plans, which make a difference to the lives of worthy students. The Trust has provided more than Rs. 7.5 crore in the form of grants, scholarships and loans. It promotes education mostly by the way of scholarships. The Nanhi Kali (children) project has over 3,300 children under it and the company aims to increase the number to 10,000 in the next two years by reaching out to the underprivileged children, especially in rural areas.

Infosys
Infosys is aggressively involved in a variety of community growth programs. In 1996, the company created the Infosys Foundation as a not-for-profit trust to which it contributes up to 1 percent of profits after tax every year. The Education and Research Department at Infosys also works with employee volunteers on community development projects.

TCS
TCS has chosen the following channels to drive its CSR initiatives: Developing innovative solutions to address large-scale societal problems by utilizing our IT core competence. Volunteering for projects that address the felt need of communities in which TCS operates, while aligning with the core themes of TCS CSR. Participating in community development program championed by our clients. Partnering with select non-government and civil society organizations and other government bodies. Supporting large-scale causes such as disaster relief or any other cause as determined by the Corporate CSR Council.

Some of the Initiatives Include

Adult Literacy Programs University Alliances TCS BPO Employability Program Academic Interface Program mKRISHI WebHealth Center
Mansuki TCS Maitree village development initiative TCS Maitrees Advanced Computer Training Center Med Mantra InsighT Empower CSR Technical Teams support to social organizations

Indian Oil
Initiatives taken by the corporation Sharing Profits Every year, IndianOil sets aside a fixed portion of its profits for spreading smiles in millions of lives across the country through a comprehensive community welfare and development programme. About one-fourth of the community development funds are spent on the welfare of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe beneficiaries. LPG Schemes Provision of Common LPG Kitchen facilities in villages Release of one-time grant to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families in the rural areas for release of new LPG connection under Rajiv Gandhi Gramin LPG Vitarak Yojana(RGGLV Yojana)

Indian Oil
Community Development: Providing Clean Drinking Water Health & Medical Care 50 Bed Swarna Jayanti Samudaik Hospital, Raunchi Bangar, Mathura 200 bed hospital set up by Assam Oil Division,IOCL at Digboi, Assam Assam Oil School of Nursing, AOD, Digboi IndianOil Rural Mobile HealthCare Scheme

Indian Oil
IndianOil Scholarship Schemes: IndianOil awards 2600 scholarships to meritorious students pursuing full-time courses in 10+/ITI, Engineering/Medical and Business Administration to nurture and support talent among the deserving students belonging to families with less than rupees one lakh as the gross joint annual income. Some of the scholarship schemes are:
IndianOil

Scholarships Scheme for Graduate and Post-Graduate students; IndianOil Merit Scholarships Scheme for 10+/ITI studies;

Indian Oil
Indian Oil Sports Scholarship Scheme Indian Oil awards Sports Scholarship to promising young sports persons representing State in team games and on National ranking in others. The Sports Scholarship Scheme awards 150 (number of scholarships increased from 72 to 150 during the year) for 10 games.

Indian Oil
Environment As part of its environment-protection initiatives, Indian Oil has invested close to Rs. 7,000 crore in stateof-the-art technologies at its refineries for production of green fuels meeting global standards. To further reduce dependence on precious petroleum products and secure the nations energy security, the Corporation is now in the process of commercialising various options in alternative fuels such as ethanolblended petrol, biodiesel, and Hydrogen and Hydrogen-CNG.

References
Bansal, P.; Roth, R. (2000). "Why Companies Go Green: A model of Ecological Responsiveness". The Academy of Management Journal 43 (4): 717736. doi:10.2307/1556363. ISSN 0001-4273. JSTOR 1556363 Bhattacharya, CB, Sankar Sen and Daniel Korschun (2011) Leveraging Corporate Social Responsibility: The Stakeholder Route to Business and Social Value, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: UK. Brand Strategy (2007). "10 key things to know about CSR". London. pg.47.

References
Catalyst Consortium (2002). "What is Corporate Social Responsibility?" Grace, D., S. Cohen (2005). Business Ethics: Australian Problems and Cases. Oxford University Press. ISBN 019-550794-0. K. C. John Wei (2011). Corporate Social Responsibility A Comparison Between Vietnam and China, International Journal of Governance. Vol. 1, No.1, July 2011. Visser, W., D. Matten, M. Pohl, Nick Tolhurst (eds.) (2008). The A to Z of Corporate Social Responsibility. Wiley. ISBN 978-0-470-72395-1.

References
Websites referred to:
wikipedia.com tatafoundation.com tcs.com timesfoundation.com iocl.com cognizant.com india-briefing.com

Thank you