CSR in India: a journey from compassion to commitment

Social responsibility of business is not new to India. With regard to CSR, the country depicts one of the richest traditions of the world. Involvement of business people in the community as well as in social development has a glorious history in India. The term corporate social responsibility (CSR) might have originated from Western discourses but prior to it the idea of philanthropy in India has evolved from its own ethos and cultural values. Philanthropic activities undertaken by rich business titans and the Gandhian trusteeship model are prominent distinctions of Indian CSR. But with the advent of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, the popularly called LPG policy during the early 1990s led to a fundamental shift from the philanthropy-based model to a multi-stakeholder perspective. During this phase, companies changed their approach and became responsible for all the stakeholders. The stakeholders include environment, community, customers, shareholders, suppliers and employees. In contemporary time, CSR has undergone a drastic change but some of the traditional features are still prevalent. The current paper has made an attempt to comprehend CSR practices in the context of Indian businesses in the early days, and major CSR initiatives during this time as well as during the post-independent period. Subsequently, CSR in the post-globalisation era with a focus on the Companies Act has been examined. Despite many unique characteristics, the paper critiques the practice of CSR by Indian companies in the current scenario.