A Comparative Study of Corporate Social Performance in Public and Private Banks in India

Corporate Social Responsibility refers to the voluntary activities undertaken by an organization to operate in an economic, social and environmentally sustainable way. The paper's purpose is to Measure and compare the Corporate Social Performance over the three years and to identify the best and worst bank performers on the basis of reporting practices and their expenditure.

For the present study the data from the secondary sources is collected using a structured Corporate Social index developed on the basis of review. The qualitative and quantitative data available on the website of the concerned bank and Prowess (CMIE database) for the time period (2014–2016) has been collected for achieving the objectives of the present study. The data will be analyzed, interpreted and evaluated with the help of Content Analysis, Descriptive statistics and ANOVA.

It has been found that the banks are directly engaged in CSR activities mostly in the area of Rural Development, Education, Community Welfare, Women and Child development, public health projects etc. In 2013, it has been made mandatory for companies to spend 2% of profits on CSR according to Companies Act, 2013. The analysis shows that, banks are making efforts for the implementation of CSR, but are not spending their 2% share of profits on CSR.

CSR can bring many rewards for the banking sector as CSR improves the performance of banks in terms of goodwill, social image and expanding business, this may be a fruitful example for other industries as well.

The Paper Evaluates the performance of public and private sector banks on the basis of CSR Reporting Disclosures both qualitatively as well as quantitative.