The Companies Act 2013 thatcame into effect in April 2014 inIndia created a mandate for
large companies to spend 2% of theirnet profits on Corporate SocialResponsibility (CSR). The mandategave an impetus to CSR in India, bothas a concept and as a practice. Indianow has almost every corporatehaving CSR at its core of strategicdecision-making process. Aconscious attempt is being made tointegrate CSR with business goals forhealthy economic, social andenvironmental impact.
Corporates have realised that themost important tool to measure thecompany's holistic growth andsuccess is through the impact itcreates on social surroundings.Almost all corporates now seek to
create impactful CSR stories. As UK-based businesswoman
Anita Roddick, said, "The business ofbusiness should not be aboutmoney. It should be aboutresponsibility. It should be aboutpublic good, not private greed."Similar sentiment seems to berunning across corporates in India. Asense of responsibility towards thesociety and public good has seepedinto the corporate world. Businessesin India are now taking innovativeinitiatives to go beyond businessesand work for the nation at large.
The Economics Times celebratedand highlighted the CSR initiativesof a host of businesses with therelease of its third annual 'TheEconomics Times CSRCompendium' on March 27 in NewDelhi, with Goodera as the CSRTechnology Platform Partner.
The Compendium aims tohighlight the good work done bycompanies while fulfilling their CSRgoals. The initiatives taken up bythe corporates are spread acrossvarious fields including, education,skill development, healthcare,sanitation, road safety, and manysuch nation-building programmes.
The chief guest, Ravi ShankarPrasad, Union Minister for Law &Justice, Electronics & InformationTechnology, who was felicitated byDeepak Saluja (Director-Response,BCCL) and Javed Sayed (DeputyExecutive Editor, ET) launched thethird edition of the ET CSRCompendium. In his address, theminister said that the Compendiumgives a glimpse of ametamorphosis happening in thecorporate world of India. Hestressed that initially, CSR was an
individual choice; it wasn't carriedout in a structured format. Heexplored the fundamentalphilosophy that underpins CSR anddifferentiates it from philanthropy.The latter is a form of generosityand charity. But CSR is not charity.Rather, it is a social commitmentingrained in the corporate culturetoday. It is a model of changingIndia. Yearning for change hasenveloped the country, he saidwhile stressing that this socialcommitment will take us all to thenew India that one hopes anddreams of.
This was followed by the'Leadership Address' moderated bySanjiv Kaura, CEO-CSR, BCCL. Thepanel consisted of Vikram Kirloskar,Vice Chairman, Toyota KirloskarMotors; Richard Rekhy, former CEO,KPMG in India; Debasish Mitter,Director, Michael & Susan DellFoundation India LLP; and TK Arun,Editor Opinion, ET.
The panel saw Vikram Kirloskartalking about 'Gearing for deepersocial impact through CSR'. Hespoke about how the country needsprogrammes like 'ABCD' (Abehaviourally changeddemonstration) for sustainabledevelopment. "We don'tdifferentiate between our businessand non-business models. Theneed is to create models, processesand methods which can bereplicated and scaled up acrossvarious sectors for not justindividual or company growth, butfor the growth of the society atlarge," he said.
Talking about 'The changinglandscape of doing good incorporate India' from the leadershipperspective, Richard Rekhy,elaborated, "A leader should leadby example; he should inspire. Onequality which is very crucial to lookat while hunting for talent is'character'. The combination ofcharacter and efficiency can bring ingreat results, both in business andCSR. It is not just about change; it isabout how we, as individuals, arehelping to bring about the desiredchange."
While discussing how CSR is anopportunity for transformativechange in India, Debasish Mitterpointed out three componentslinked to CSR: First, the socialchange which is driven bygovernment, private enterprise andthe civil society; second is the useof technology which adds value toCSR and helps create an impactthrough technological innovations;and third is the collaborationbetween the government, thecorporate world and the society,who need to work in tandem tochange the social sector.
According to Janhavi R Dhariwal,Founder, Rasiklal ManikchandDhariwal Foundation,"Sustainability is the mostimportant enabler of success, be itin business or in CSR. You can't giveshape to a great business idea if it isnot sustainable. Likewise, if CSRinitiatives are not sustainable, thenthe good work that started doesn'tlast long."
Accountability and technology areanother aspects that can't beignored when it comes to CSR,echoed the panel. "Anything we doneeds accountability, especially inIndia. The moment we integratetechnology with CSR, it brings inaccountability and value-add to CSRinitiatives," said Raghav Beriwala,Director, Shyam Steel.
As Premchand Kashyap, MD, KYBConmat rightly said, CSR is a lotmore than just a clause in thecorporate law book. Working for thesociety should be in-built in us; weshould be passionate aboutbuilding a culture of volunteeringtowards nation-building.
Nilovna Ghosh, DGM-CSR, EssarFoundation, added, "We have donea great job in taking CSR as amandate, but gradually most of thecompanies are beginning tounderstand that it is not just aboutcompliance; it is also about doingthe work with strategic planningand management. Ruraldevelopment sector is a complexarena; the targets cannot beachieved without taking peopletogether. We need niche talent whoare skilled to do this intense job.The businesses have understoodthis completely, and so far, thetransition has been great."
The event was concluded by TKArun, who stressed on the need for thecorporates to be responsible, "Youngpeople want to work with companiesthat are responsible. If you want talent,you must be responsible. Thecompanies need to go beyond justchecking the box; only then will theygain respect." The result-oriented andresponsible approach to CSR is all weneed to make India's social future awhole lot better.
CONSUMER CONNECT INITIATIVE
● ESSAR FOUNDATION● GAIL ● HERO MOTO CORP ● HINDUSTAN ZINC ● JK CEMENT● KYB CONMAT ● LARSON & TOUBRO LIMITED ● MAHANAGAR GAS ● MAHINDRA & MAHINDRA● MARUTI ● MONDELEZ INDIA ● NTPC ● NSDC ● PERSISTENT● PG FOILS● RASIKLAL MANIKCHAND
DHARIWAL FOUNDATION ● REC ● RECKIT BENCKISER● SHYAM STEEL ● TOYOTA KIRLOSKAR MOTORS● UNITED BREWERIES LIMITED ● UNION BANK OF INDIA● VEDANTA ● GOODERA
CSR: A collaborative, responsibleand sustainable approach neededThe launch of the third annual ET CSR Compendium saw a detailed discussion on the needfor the corporates to have a holistic approach towards social development of the country
Corporates must work togeth-er with the communities tomake a sustainable impact onthe nation. Businesses shouldtake up initiatives that arelong term and universal innature; only then will the realimpact be visible
Vijay SethiCIO, Chief HR Officer and Head CSR,
Hero Moto Corp
CSR has evolved in a big way.Philanthropy is a thing of thepast; businesses are now real-ising the impact of communityconnect and nation building.With monitoring weaved intothe system, it will take CSR tothe next level
Tushara ShankarGM-CSR, United Breweries Limited
In India, CSR is at a fascinat-ing stage today; it has gonemuch beyond money. It hasbecome a new way of solvingsocial problems that existedfor many years. CSR hasbrought along new ways tosolve old problems
Neelima KhaitanGroup Head-CSR, Vedanta Group
The CSR journey is a long one.We have neither reached theend, nor have we just started.We are not new to corporatephilanthropy; CSR is just theterm and we can ensure itssustainability by continuing todo it incessantly
Raghavpat Singhania Special Executive, JK Cement
CSR needs to run like a busi-ness; the right talent and theright thoughts are needed torun initiatives that can have alasting impact. CSR should bedone as an article of faith andwe need robust measures toget the desired results
Jayant KrshnaED & COO, NSDC
We need to focus on sustain-able development of ournation. The CSR programmesshould focus on initiativesthat have sustainable out-comes, and for this, we needto work with the masses aswell as the government
Vikram KirloskarVice Chairman, Toyota Kirloskar Motors
PARTICIPATINGCOMPANIES IN THE ETCSR COMPENDIUM 2017
QUOTE UNQUOTE
The launch of the third editionof the annual ET CRSCompendium was preceded
by an engaging roundtablediscussion, moderated by SanjivKaura, CEO-CSR, BCCL. Theeminent panel included, PrakashTewari, Exec Director and HeadCSR, DLF; Ravi Bhatnagar,Director External Affairs andPartnerships (Asia, Middle Eastand South Africa), ReckittBenckiser; Loveleen Kacker, CEOTech Mahindra Foundation;Anurag Kapoor, Head-CSR,Schneider Electric; Vijay Sethi,CIO, Chief HR Officer and HeadCSR, Hero Moto Corp; and JayantKrshna, ED & COO, NSDC.
COLLABORATIVEAPPROACH FOR IMPACTThe first round focused on'Creating success in partnershipswith government for betterimpact through CSR.' LoveleenKacker, stressed, "Ours is the onlycountry to have a CSR mandatein place. It has proved to be goodstep and has encouraged bigcorporate to create equal
opportunities for all." She addedthat the government is thehardware, and businesses are thesoftware; their partnership is amust for the social machinery towork efficiently.
Talking about the need to workin sync with the government,Prakash Tewari, said, "Corporatehave been doing CSR fromvarious perspectives, including
the development, impact andreputation perspective. We justneed to add the strategic part toit, which is possible only if thecorporate collaborate with thegovernment."
Citing an example of theimpact of a collaborativeapproach, Vijay Sethi, shared, "Wehave been working towardsmaking women mobile. We
started to train women to ridetwo-wheelers, but the real impactcame when the Government ofHaryana supported us and itbecame a mass movement."
THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGYAND INNOVATIONS IN CSRThe second round of discussionfocused on the role of technologyin CSR. Talking about technical
innovations, Ravi Bhatnagar,elaborated, "Technology is thecommon thread that binds all thestakeholders; it helps us createcommon currency for the good.As we talk of strategic CSR, weneed to understand howtechnological interventions canbe used to create sustainableimpact. For example, a lot of treeplantation is happening under
CSR, but imagine how wonderfulit would be if we could overseethe growth of the planted tressvirtually, and witness thewatering and flowering processthrough virtual application."
Anurag Kapoor stressed on theneed for all stakeholders involvedto work together, "We are allincomplete without each other.We all need to work in tandem toachieve social success."
Vijay Sethi rightly pointed outthat CSR is now more of CSI(corporate social investment)and should move to the nextlevel, which is ISR (individualsocial responsibility). Sharingsimilar sentiments, JayantKrshna, said, "Instead offocusing on the figure that mustbe spent on CSR, we mustrealise that what comes frompeople must go back to people.CSR needs to run like abusiness; the right people andthe right thoughts are requiredto run it."
L to R: TK Arun (Editor Opinion, ET), Sanjiv Kaura (CEO-CSR, BCCL), Ravi Shankar Prasad (Union Minister for Law & Justice, Electronics & IT), Vikram Kirloskar (Vice Chairman, Toyota Kirloskar Motors), Deepak Saluja (Director-Response, BCCL), Javed Sayed (Deputy Executive Editor, ET)and Aditya Talwar (Director-Consulting, Goodera)
L to R: Debasish Mitter (Director, Michael & Susan Dell FoundationIndia LLP); Sanjiv Kaura (CEO-CSR, BCCL), Vikram Kirloskar (Vice Chairman, Toyota Kirloskar Motors); and Richard Rekhy (former CEO, KPMG India)
Ravi Shankar Prasad (UnionMinister for Law & Justice,Electronics & IT)
Corporate stalwarts feel that it is time for the businesses to move to the nextlevel of CSR, which is Individual Social Responsibility (ISR)
Time to move from CSR to ISR
L to R: Sanjiv Kaura, Vijay Sethi (CIO, Chief HR Officer and Head CSR, Hero Moto Corp), Ravi Bhatnagar (Director ExternalAffairs and Partnerships, Reckitt Benckiser), Jayant Krshna (ED & COO, NSDC), Anurag Kapoor (Head-CSR, SchneiderElectric), Loveleen Kacker (CEO, Tech Mahindra Foundation), and Prakash Tewari (Exec Director and Head-CSR, DLF)
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