76 Rural & Marketing March 2013

P
hilanthropy among
Indian businesses has
always existed. In an
Indian context, the
Gandhian principle of
trusteeship expresses the inherent
duties of the business enterprises to
its consumers, workers, community
and the mutual responsibilities
of these to one another. In India,
practices o CSR are gaining
momentum. Rather than looking at
CSR purely as philanthropy and as
external to their business operations,
it is now increasingly common for
businesses to incorporate ethics,
innovation and social sensitivity into
their businesses thereby generating
prots and contributing to society.
EVOLVING CONCEPT
CSR has eoled rom being a
Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) is
an evolving concept
in India and India Inc.
seems to be adjusting to
the new role. Companys
Bill, 2012 is expected to
straighten the inherent
ambiguities in the
concept
by Payal Mulchandani
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Enterprising
Responsibility
77 Rural & Marketing March 2013
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philanthropic activity to a concept which has pro
active engagement with serious pressing issues like
environment sustainability, human rights, social ills,
etc. because of the countrys monetary wealth in
the private sector and the belief that resources to
develop real world solutions lie in the private sector.
CSR in India is still at a stage where deliberate
efforts are required to be made on a large scale,
in terms o CSR policy, planning, awareness and
training, research and execution teams, etc. The
recent Companies Bill, 2012 and the incorporation
o a CSR clause, urthers the importance o CSR
expressed by the goernment as well. PSUs are
inesting oer 2 per cent o their net prots in CSR
activities but due to lack of manpower, concrete
strategy and direction along with low management
interest, they havent been able to achieve desired
results. With the new companys bill, which will
include the private companies as well under the
mandatory CSR umbrella, it is estimated that oer
Rs. 1,000 Crore per year will be dedicated for
CSR actiities.
CSR is becoming a priority in most companies.
1his is not just because o Goernment Bills and
Guidelines. It is due to the increasing recognition
by business of the fact that a business can no longer
survive in isolation, taking into consideration
only shareholders value but should be based on
an inclusive concept of
stakeholder value.
CSR is a new ision
of looking at players on
the development fora.
It is no longer possible
for the business sector
to take a back seat in
facilitating environmental,
economic, human and social
development, but should
make conscious efforts
to work in coalition with different civil sector
organisations and the State.
Companies are beginning to accept corporate
governance principles, take into consideration
the social impacts of their business operations,
mitigate harm from value chain activities, transform
alue chain actiities to benet society, leerage
capabilities to improve salient areas of competitive
advantage and engage in strategic
CSR by aligning it with business
goals and objecties.
Companies have realised
the impact they can create by
using their core competencies to
further growth and development
in their organisations and
the society around them.
Information Technology being
1ata Consultancy Serice`s
,1CS, core business, it uses
this competency to address
large scale societal problems
through software innovations. Microsoft through
its Unlimited Potential Program gies subsidised
software to NGOs and they work extensively on
computer skill trainings. A lot of companies have
signed Public Private Partnerships to partner
or skill deelopment with State Goernments.
Companies are working towards reducing their
environment footprint by reducing their waste. A
With the new
Companys Bill, that
includes private
companies also
under the mandatory
CSR umbrella, it is
estimated that over Rs.
1,000 Crore per year
will be dedicated for
CSR activities
Tatjana Loren, Team Member 4th Wheel onsite Adani Foundation project, Mundra
78 Rural & Marketing March 2013
large number of companies have also only
been engaged in providing donations to
religious organisations. We are certain this
trend and form of engagement will change
to more strategic and effective models of
CSR, in the near uture.
THE GREY ELEMENTS
One of the loopholes for India Inc. has
been \hat does one consider as CSR`. 1he
idea o what constitutes CSR is still ague
amongst companies. With the Companies
bill it is becoming clearer as to where
investments should and can be made. One
concern howeer, is that the Bill considers
contributions to the PM Relief fund, Tribal
unds as a part o CSR and not as charity.
Another loophole is nding the right
people, trained professionally in social
deelopment and specically on CSR.
There is a dearth of formal education in
CSR and sustainability in the country.
Project conceptualisation and strategy
can be improed by pilot testing projects
and xing tangible delierables to social
programs. Monitoring and evaluation of
projects is ery low in the country, which
is one o the biggest hurdles to CSR
project`s success. Companies continue
to inest in the same projects and issues
without looking at the impact they have
created and weeding out the issues that
hamper the potential impact. The notion
of charity is ingrained in the minds of both
communities and companies. This mindset
needs some reformation to ensure self-
sustaining and sustainable CSR projects.
WE AT THE 4th WHEEL
We, as facilitators are currently working
with CGPL ,1ata Power undertaking at
Mundra, Gujarat, or a publication on
their Saety interentions and a Social
Return on Inestment Study or Adani
loundation. Besides, handle all the CSR
communication and documentation for
CGPL ,1ata Power,.
Moreover, we have worked with 6
corporate houses and industry bodies, 7
NGOs and various universities across the
country. The corporate houses, we have
worked with, are Coastal Gujarat Power
Limited,1ata Power,, Adani loundation,
GICL, Rhizome Ltd., Gujarat Chamber
o Commerce and Industry, Smile India
loundation,Azure Ltd.,
Amongst NGOS we hae worked with
SL\A, Iome Net South Asia and Iome
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There is a dearth of
formal education
in CSR and
sustainability in
the country. Project
conceptualisation
and strategy can be
improved by pilot
testing projects
and xing tangible
deliverables to
social programs
Plan and Participate Project(Employee Engagement) training at Vadilal Group, Ahmedabad
79 Rural & Marketing March 2013
Net India, Kids loundation o India, Project
Concern India, Coastal Salinity Preention
Cell and Iabitat or Iumanity. Projects
have also been undertaken with PhD
students rom London School o Lconomics
and students rom PDPU, Gandhinagar,
ILBBA, Ahmedabad, llames, Pune, etc.
We work as Knowledge Partners for
arious social deelopment and CSR
related events across the country. A few
o our partners hae been India CSR,
Green Earth Alliance, Indian Institute of
lorest Management,IIlM,, etc. Academic
workshops and sessions have been
undertaken by our team at undergraduate
and MBA colleges namely Shanti Business
School, Pandit Deendayal Petroleum
Uniersity, BK Majumdar Institute o
Business Administration, Ganpat Uniersity
among others.
We initiated and implemented the
Plan and Participate Project an Lmployee
Lngagement project with 12 companies
at Ahmedabad ,Marriott Iotels, Vadilal,
GICL, Uni\orld, Idea, Moti and others,.
Our partner organizations were Ahmedabad
Municipal Corporation, SAA1I Charitable
1rust, Janpath International, Institute or
Transportation and Development Policy and
Aga Khan Rural Support Program, India.
Actiities or olunteering under this project
included street audits, waste management
workshops, RTI outreach sessions at
hospitals, skill sharing programs for urban
youth, etc.
THE WAY AHEAD
A new concept o Creating Shared Value`
developed by Michael Porter and Mark
Kramer is the uture o Social, Lconomic
and Lnironmental Sustainability`. 1his
concept dwells on the premise that a
company can innovate and improve
their operations, thereby doing good and
doing well
Companies have increased training
programs for their employees on ethics
and CSR, more and more companies are
now setting up and expanding their CSR
departments, employee engagement is going
to get much more popular and strategic,
needs assessment studies and baselines
studies are becoming crucial beore CSR
program conceptualisation and monitoring
and evaluation frameworks are being devised
and implemented to ensure stipulated
actions and results. New innovative,
technology driven methods of catering to
the peculiar needs of todays rural and urban
are being piloted and a step towards stopping
replication and duplication of programs and
projects is being made.
At 4th \heel we eel that CSR has
tremendous potential and scope in driving
development in the right direction and
deriving economic, social and environmental
sustainability. Companies should incorporate
CSR in both their business philosophy
and operations and should use their
core competencies to tackle societal or
environmental issues. We are constantly
working towards more strategic CSR,
which includes the principles of inclusive,
participatory and sustainable development.

(The writer is co-founder 4th Wheel and Ahmedabad

based NGO)
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Projects have
also been
undertaken with
PhD students from
London School
of Economics
and students
from PDPU,
Gandhinagar,
HLBBA,
Ahmedabad,
Flames, Pune, etc
Session on Railways and CSR at Railway Staff College, Baroda