CSR in India: From philanthropy to responsibility

The concept and practice of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in India has undergone a process of evolution in the flux of time. The process symbolizes an unending journey which begins with the noble intension of philanthropy (means charity or giving without expecting any return), but, on the way, the journey has become a matter of corporate responsibility. In India, philanthropic model did not work for long. As a result of which, there was pressure from various stakeholders on business corporate houses to undertake the responsibility of the society. Therefore, there is paradigm shift from philanthropic approach to responsibility approach. CSR in India is now mandated by law under New Company Act 2013. This paper attempts to put some insight into the evolution of CSR in India, CSR models in practice and explore gap in its implementation procedure. The business enterprises that pioneered industrialization and instigated rivalry against the British oppressors during pre- independent India also followed Trusteeship (M.K Gandhi) which is closely synonymous with CSR. According to him, ‘a stakeholder in an organization is any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organization's objectives.’ This is more pertinent in particularly a country like India where wide gap exists between people in terms of income and living standards as well as social status. Many of the companies who really invest on some social development projects; the basic intention was to formulate a business policy to stay away from the tax net, rather than to ensure the good of the nation.