01 June 2010
Corporate social responsibility is not a new concept in India. However, what is new is the shift in focus from making profits to meeting societal challenges. Now-a-days, employees are actively participating in the social activities even on holidays. This is mainly because employees feel a sense of pride when they are involved in such activities. Moreover, companies are having dedicated departments for CSR.
Giving a universal definition of Corporate Social Responsibility is bit difficult as there is no common definition as such. However, there are few common threads that connect all the perspectives of CSR with each other; the dedication to serve the society being most important of them. Most ideal definition of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been given by World Business Council for Sustained Development which says, “Corporate Social Responsibility is the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large”.
Thus, the meaning of CSR is two fold. On one hand, it exhibits the ethical behavior that an organization exhibits towards its internal and external stakeholders (customers as well as employees). On the other hand, it denotes the responsibility of an organization towards the environment and society in which it operates.
Firms can no longer continue to exploit environmental resources and escape from their responsibility by acting as separate entities regardless of the interest of the society. Organizations, now, are realizing the need to shift their focus on the interest of society. The sense of being socially responsible has to come from within. CSR involves various voluntary efforts in which companies engage themselves in order to give something back to the society. It involves providing innovative solutions to societal and environmental challenges. Organizations generally believe that acting in a socially responsible manner will create value for them. The fact that an organization is committed to social causes, also gives employees a sense that the company would also be committed to the welfare of its employees as well.
Indian companies are now expected to discharge their stakeholder responsibilities and societal obligations, along with their shareholder-wealth maximisation goal.
Nearly all leading corporates in India are involved in corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes in areas like education, health, livelihood creation, skill development, and empowerment of weaker sections of the society. Notable efforts have come from the Tata Group, Infosys, Bharti Enterprises, Coca Cola India, Pepsico and ITC Welcome group, among others.
In fact, four Indians, including Sunil Mittal, Chairman and Managing Director of the Bharti Group, non -resident Indian (NRI) businessman Anil Agarwal, Shiv Nadar, HCL Technologies Chairman and non government organization (NGO) activist Rohini Nilekani were featured in the Forbes list of '48 Heroes of Philanthropy'.
India has been named among the top ten Asian countries paying increasing importance towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosure norms.
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