Author(s) :

Dr. Jyoti Paul, Dr. Deepti Singh.

Volume/Issue :

Abstract :

The concept of social responsibility of business is not new to the Indian Business though the term found its usage more evidently in the last few decades. So much so, India passed legislation in 2013, making CSR expenditure mandatory for profit making business houses. A few years down the line, it is time to study the how the corporate houses are shaping their CSR activities. The Indian Companies Act has specified a list of activities in Schedule VII which are the broad areas in which companies can have CSR projects. Based on mandatory parameters and review of extent literature, the paper seeks to develop an index of CSR disclosure and tries to find out the extent of compliance by BSE-30 companies. It further identifies the role of some key parameters of CSR committee in terms of diversity, size, independence and activity and their relationship with CSR disclosure by the firms. Size of the CSR committee and independent chairman are positively associated with CSR disclosure index, whereas presence of females in CSR committee has a negative relation with the index. Frequency of CSR committee meetings and ethnic diversity measured by presence of foreign nationals on committee have no significant relation with CSR index.

No. of Downloads :

22

KEYWORDS:

Board, CSR, CSR Committee, India

INTRODUCTION & OBJECTIVES:

The term social responsibility of business maybe new, but the concept has deep roots in the Indian culture where from ages the haves have been trying to contribute something for the don't haves. In almost all religions there is inherent practice of cultivating generosity. In most societies there has been a spirit of giving to an individual in distress or need. There have always been philanthropic public projects that empower and help many. There have been several examples of big corporate houses contributing back to the society in the Indian economy with corporate houses adopting villages, being involved in health and education services for free or for very nominal charges. The concept of charitable schools, hospitals, research foundations is quite old in our society. India has become a trailblazer in committing to corporate social responsibility by following a legislative initiative on making CSR expenditure mandatory for stipulated companies following amendment in the Companies Act 2013. There was no dearth of companies contributing to the society, but there was still larger number of corporate houses taking just advantage and revenues from the society without any real effort to pay back to the society. By making it mandatory has driven the focus from those contributing out of free will to free riders as well. What started as a mandatory requirement soon caught momentum and turned into a commitment by some major companies of the country. Recent survey by KPMG validates this statement according to which average expenditure on CSR by top Indian companies has shown a remarkable growth over a period of 4 years ever since the mandate has been passed and the CSR expenditure has increased by 47% from 2014 to 2018. Given that there is an increasing emphasis on CSR initiatives both at the level of government as well as the companies undertaking CSR activities, it is imperative to look deeper into the most important decision making body of CSR activities i.e. the CSR committee and CSR initiatives undertaken by the same. Keeping this in mind the study aims to meet the following objectives. OBJECTIVES ● To review the extant literature on background of the Board and CSR Disclosure. ● To develop an index for CSR disclosure in Indian context. ● To empirically analyse board determinants viz. CSR committee characteristics and their impact on CSR disclosure and provide suggestions on the basis of empirical work.

DOI:

10.58426/cgi.v2.i2.2020.63-78