Corporate Social Responsibility in India: An Overview

The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has gained increased significance in recent years. The growing focus on CSR has changed the attitude of businesses all over the world, and India is not an exception. The concept of CSR is not new to India, historically speaking, social responsibility of companies is a well-established phenomenon in India, and the country has one of the world’s richest traditions of CSR. In its oldest forms, CSR in India included the concept of corporate philanthropy and the Gandhian Trusteeship model. But the liberalization of the Indian economy in the 1990s led to a fundamental shift from the philanthropy-based model to a multistakeholder approach whereby companies are deemed responsible for all stakeholders, including financial stakeholders, employees and the community. increasing importance accorded to CSR world-wide, and India’s own realization that it needs CSR to achieve long-term sustainability in the world economy.