CSR in Maharatna CPSEs after the enactment of Companies Act, 2013

In view of newly enacted Companies Act, assessment of Corporate Performance on CSR has become necessary. Present study is a longitudinal study covering 3 years of Maharatna Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) since... [ view full abstract ]

In view of newly enacted Companies Act, assessment of Corporate Performance on CSR has become necessary. Present study is a longitudinal study covering 3 years of Maharatna Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) since the enactment of Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rules, 2014. It attempts to understand and assess the CSR and sustainability policies, their implementation & monitoring as well as impact assessment. The paper describes some of the distinctive features of CSR and Sustainability policies of these CPSEs such as geographical and sectorial preference for allocating CSR budget as also the strategies for employee and community engagement. This is the first attempt to discuss the impact of mandatory CSR provisions on CSR policy, implementation framework of top seven public sector enterprises in India. The main research questions are 'How top Public Sector Enterprises formulate their CSR and Sustainability policies; how do they implement it, how do they monitor and assess the impact of their CSR initiatives. In this research, a descriptive case study approach was adopted.

Findings reveal that neither of these companies has been able to align CSR initiatives with their business operations and despite good CSR Policy, the implementation, monitoring and impact assessment has been poor. It, further, raises concerns about mandatory CSR provisions and major challenges faced by them in undertaking CSR which were confirmed by the relevant interviewees from these enterprises. Lastly, it makes recommendations for effective implementation of CSR initiatives so that they make sustainable social impact.

Keywords:  Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), CSR Rules,    CPSEs, Maharatna