“IMPLEMENTATION OF CSR BY BANKS”

A PROJECT SUBMITTED TO

UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI FOR PARTIAL COMPLETION OF THE

DEGREE OF MASTER IN COMMERCE

UNDER THE FACULTY OF COMMERCE

BY

MONISHA PRABHAKAR NAIDU

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

PROF. SHAMA SHAH

S.K. SOMAIYA DEGREE COLLEGE OF ARTS, SCIENCE AND

COMMERCE.

VIDYAVIHAR(EAST), MUMBAI – 400077

DECEMBER-2017

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 DECLARATION

I the undersigned Miss. Monisha Prabhakar Naidu here by declare that the work
embodied in this project work titled “IMPLEMENTATION OF CSR BY BANKS” forms
my own contribution to the research work carried out under the guidance of Prof.Shama
Shah is a result of my own research work and has not been previously submitted to any
other University for any other Degree/Diploma to this or any other University.

Wherever reference has been made to previous works of others, it has been clearly
indicated as such and included in the bibliography.

I, here by further declare that all information of this document has been obtained and
presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct.

MONISHA NAIDU

Roll No -27

Certified by

PROF. SHAMA SHAH.

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 S.K. SOMAIYA DEGREE COLLEGE OF ARTS, SCIENCE AND
COMMERCE.
VIDYAVIHAR(EAST), MUMBAI – 400077

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Miss Monisha Naidu has worked and duly completed her Project
Work for the degree of Master in Commerce under the Faculty of Commerce in the
subject of DEBT MARKET and her project is entitled, “IMPLEMENTATION OF CSR
BY BANKS” under my supervision.

I further certify that the entire work has been done by the learner under my guidance and
that no part of it has been submitted previously for any Degree or Diploma of any
University.

It is her own work and facts reported by her personal findings and investigations.

College seal PROF. SHAMA SHAH

GUIDING TEACHER

Date of Submission :

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

To list who all have helped me is difficult because they are so numerous and the depth iso
enormous.

I would like to acknowledge the following as being idealistic channels and fresh
dimensions in the completion of this project.

I take this opportunity to thank the University of Mumbai for giving me chance to do
this project.

I would like to thank my Principal, Dr. SANGEETA KOHLI for providing the
necessary facilities required for completion of this project.

I take this opportunity to thank our Coordinator, Prof. RAVIKANT SANGURDE, for
the moral support and guidance.

I would also like to express my sincere gratitude towards my project guide Prof.
SHAMA SHAH whose guidance and care made the project successful.

I would like to thank my College Library, for having provided various reference books
and magazines related to my project.

Lastly, I would like to thank each and every person who directly or indirectly helped me
in the completion of the project especially my Parents and Peers who supported mr
throughout my project.

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This project has been designed to serve as the main project in the third semester for the
course of MCOM – BANKING & FINANCE of the University of Mumbai. It has been
specially written covering all the topics considered important for the subject matter of
this project.

I have kept in mind the purpose and the scope of the project and have treated all topics in
a language and style, which will be very easily understood.

 The main purpose of the study is to analyze the corporate social responsibility (CSR)
activities implemented by Indian banks. The study is based on the secondary data
taken from the annual reports of the banks.
 Corporate Social Responsibility is a concept whereby financial institutions consider
the interests of society and the environment by taking responsibility for the impact of
their activities on stakeholders, employees, shareholders, customers, suppliers instead
of their profitability and growth. CSR bring many advantages for the banking sector
it enhances banks reputation
 The project has mainly focused on the CSR activities implemented by various bank
and the areas in which they perform CSR.
 Through this project’s primary analysis we will understand the corporate social
responsibility initiatives ICICI Bank and HDFC bank and their spending on CSR
activities.

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Chapter no’s CHAPTER

1. INTRODUCTION 1-3
2. MEANING AND DEFINITION 4-6
3. CSR MAPS OF BANKS 7-9
4. REVIEW OF LITERATURE 10-12
5. ROLE OF BANKING SECTOR IN DEVELOPMENT 13-14
OF ECONOMY
6. EVOLUTION OF CSR 15-16
7. KEY CHALLANGES/BARRIERS 17
8. REMOVING ECONOMIC BARRIERS 18-19
9. ADVANTAGES OF CSR- 20-22
10. ARGUMENTS FOR CSR 23
11. ARGUMENTS AGAINST CSR 24
12 CSR TOWARDS DIFFERENT GROUPS 25
13 DISADVANTAGES OF CSR 26-27
14 CSR WITHIN BANKING INDUSTRY 28
15 POTENTIAL BUSINESS BENEFITS 29-30
16 WHAT SHOULD BANKING INDUSTRY FOCUS ON 31-33
17 CSR IN BANKING SECTOR 34-41
18 DIFFERENT KEY AREAS 42-47
19 CSR BY MAJOR BANKS IN INDIA 48-71
20 PRIMARY DATA 72-76
21 CASE STUDY 77
22 FINDING AND RECOMENDATION 78
23 CONCLUSION 79
24 ANNEXURE 80
25 QUESTIONNAIRE FOR EMPLOYEE 81-83
26 CUSTOMER 84-86
27 DATA INTERPRETATION 87

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 INTRODUCTION

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the continuing commitment by business to

achieve commercial success in ways that honor ethical values, address legal issues and
contribute to economic development while improving the quality of the workforce and
their families as well as the local community and society at large. Indeed, the idea of
social responsibility is not new to this age rather it has been around as long as businesses
have existed.
Sometimes it comes in the shape of caring owners, who provided housing, paid the
workers who are off due to sickness or otherwise in form of attempts made to provide
ease and comfort to the employees lot. Although many such voluntary social measures
have become legal requirements, a number of business leaders have gone further ahead
by utilizing their wealth to improve the living conditions of many people in the society.
Simultaneously, a shift is already occurring from traditional philanthropy to wholesome
community development among the more progressive of the companies. Financial
System is the most important institutional and functional vehicle for economic
transformation of any country. Banking sector is reckoned as a hub and barometer of the
financial system. As a pillar of the economy, this sector plays a predominant role in the
economic development of the country. Thus the banking sector has been playing a
significant role as growth facilitator. In recent years corporate social responsibility has
become an important issue at global level. The concept of corporate social responsibility
recognizes as commitment of an organization to operate in a socially responsible manner.
It takes into consideration the social and environmental implications of corporate
financial decisions. It is also associated with corporate governance and ethical business
procedure.
The integration of CSR principles in operating activities of business is very much
essential to ensure sustainable development of an economy. In the financial sector several
international initiatives like United Nations Environment Programme Finance Initiative,

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Global Reporting Initiative, Equator Principles and Collavecchio Declaration on
Financial Institutions are underway to ensure the adoption of CSR practices in normal
business operations. These initiatives have favorably tuned up developed countries to
behave in a socially responsible way.
But in developing nations, there is a lack of focused and effective actions to the current
need. In addition to this a very limited research work has been done to investigate the
CSR practices in developing and emerging nations. In fact the academic publication on
this fiery issue is primarily western centric. Belal (2001) noted that most of the CSR
studies conducted so far were in the context of developed countries such as Western
Europe, the USA and Australia and we still know too little about practices in smaller and
emerging countries.
In this context, the present paper attempts to examine the steps initiated by Indian
commercial banks to represent their efforts in this arena. The second section unfolds
some prominent dimensions of CSR practices world-wide. Next section entails the
discussion of CSR practices in banking industry with special reference to Indian banks.
As corporates are profit making organizations basic assumption is that they should be
sensitive to the needs of communities or society at large in which they operate,
similarly their products and services should not bring negative impact on people and
planet.
The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility [CSR] has wider scope. The banks are
one of the major stakeholders in the finance sector. Through its huge network of
branches and profit the banking industry is one of the major corporates in India. The
banks can have wider socio-economic impact in the society through their financial
products and services. Considering this Reserve Bank of India has issued guidelines to
banks regarding CSR, sustainable development and non-financial reporting and advised
that the banks should frame their policies on CSR. To have demonstrated effects
implementation of CSR is crucial .

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I. DEFINITION
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a business approach that contributes to
sustainable development by delivering economic, social and environmental benefits for
all stakeholders.

II. OBJECTIVES OF STUDY

1. To understand the concept and meaning of CSR .

2. To Study the Major areas of CSR initiatives in Indian Banking Sector

3. To study the current practices and initiatives undertaken by ICICI and HDFC banks in
the area of CSR.

4. To compare CSR practices among these banks.

III. SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of the study is limited to study the concept of CSR and mainly focuses on
different CSR initiatives carried out Banks.

IV. LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Following are the limitations incurred during the project,
1. The information provided by the bank was quite limited, they hardly exposed any
information.
.2. Statistical data regarding CSR spending was not accurate.

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 MEANING

Corporate Social Responsibility also called Corporate Conscience or Responsible

Business is a form of corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. CSR is
defined as the voluntary activities undertaken by a company to operate in an economic,
social and environmentally sustainable manner. CSR policy functions as a self-regulatory
mechanism whereby a business monitors and ensures its active compliance with the spirit
of law, ethical standards and national or international norms.
The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility is not a new one but its focal point
changes with the changing requirements of business and varying social needs. The
concept of CSR was first mentioned in 1953 in the publication of “Social responsibilities
of businessman” by William J.Bowen. However the term CSR became only popular in
the 1990s, When the German Beta pharma generic pharmaceutical company decided to
implement CSR. CSR is a concept whereby companies decide voluntarily to contribute to
a better society and a cleaner environment. It is represented by the contributions
undertaken by companies to society through its business activities and its social
investment.
CSR has been making an increasingly prominent impact in the Indian social system by
supplementing development projects. But it is not a novel concept in India as its
historical roots goes till the Vedic age Today Banking Sector growing larger and
powerful than before. Various Non-government organizations put pressure on Banks to
act responsibly towards their stakeholders. Thus pressure has given rise to the concept
named Corporate Social Responsibility. CSR defined as “the economic, legal, ethical,
and philanthropic expectations placed on organizations by society at a given point in
time.” .Exactly what responsibility companies have towards society has been discussed
for some decades now.

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Economic responsibilities:
The first responsibility of the company towards society refers to running the business as
an economically healthy unit. It includes aspects such as return on investment for
shareholders, fair employee salaries, and quality products supplied to customers at fair
prices; all required by the society. (Crane & Matten, 2004)

Ethical responsibilities:
It refers to corporation’s responsibilities which are not covered by legal or economical
requirements, but instead by what could be considered as „right‟ or „fair‟ in the eyes of
society. Society therefore expects corporations to act ethically towards their stakeholders.

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Legal responsibilities:
Demands that companies act in accordance with existing legislation and regulatory
requirements. The legal framework consequentially fosters society’s ethical view and all
companies attempting to be socially responsible are therefore required by society to
follow the law. (Crane &Matten, 2004)

Philanthropic responsibilities:
This involves corporation’s willingness to enhance the quality of living for their
stakeholders (i.e. employees, local community, and society at large) through charitable
donations and organizational support. These corporate decisions are entirely voluntary, of
less importance than the former three, and (with regards to social responsibility) only
seen as desired by society. (Crane & Matten, 2004).

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CHART 2- THE CSR MAP OF BANKS
• Developing financial literacy and
awareness, financial education
• Responsible, prudent lending, risk
management
• Fair and transparent financial services,
handling of complaints
• Volunteering to improve the living
environment
• Supporting disadvantaged social
groups
• Supporting local communities •
Supporting sports
• Supporting NGOs
• Supporting culture and the arts
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• Helping disadvantaged clients to use
banking services, products for clients
with special needs
• Involvement and ethical treatment of
stakeholders
• Providing financial support to social
enterprises
• Financing environmental protection
investments
• Developing the basic principles of
financing sensitive sectors • Combating
money laundering, corruption and terrorism
• Supporting disadvantaged people •
Supporting sports
• Supporting the arts, culture and science
• Supporting NGOs
• Mitigating environmental impacts
(selective waste collection, office layout)
• Providing jobs, appropriate working
conditions, equal opportunities
Chart 2
It shows banking activities and CSR activities in relation to the typical CSR areas of the
banking sector. Banking activity is interpreted in terms of the balance sheet total and the
number of branches, while CSR activity shows whether the bank integrates CSR
initiatives into its business activities or just applies the philanthropic aspect.

The following CSR map is based on information available on the websites of Hungarian
commercial banks. In our opinion, the CSR approach can be expanded to other areas.
During decision making, benefits and damages could be considered, which are yielded or
caused by that particular decision outside of a given organization and not influencing
their profit in the short-term.

For example, faulty product development causing system-level failures may destroy the
savings of certain household groups. The basic principles could be laid down in voluntary
codes of ethics that go beyond the statutes in order to keep to the right directions. There
should be more stress on guaranteeing compliance with the Codes Of Ethics in banking
organizations.

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Although the implementation of CSR is at a high cost to banks, the financial performance
of companies that have successfully implemented CSR practices has historically been
high.

The high performance of ethical firms can be explained by two logical reasons:

 Companies at the forefront of implementing CSR are healthy firms that strive to shape
the future in light of new social and environmental challenges.
 CSR is a way to create new businesses, and has allowed firms to attract new investors
and new growth opportunities

We can identify 4 benefits of implementing CSR, as illustrated in the diagram

below:

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REVIEW OF LITERATURE

The concept of corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is not a new one. But its focal
point changes with the changing requirements of business and varying social needs
Corporate Social Responsibility recognizes that business firms have not one but many
different kinds of responsibility, including economic and legal responsibility.

In 1960, CSR surfaced as an attempt to link business with society. The underlying belief
in this era was to apply the resources in a socially responsible manner i.e., the promotion
of social welfare along with the economic development. The main argument was to
employ economy’s means of production in such a way that production and distribution
could enhance total socio-economic welfare. In 1970s CSR was identified as the
conformance to industry principles. The basic idea was to widen the margin of CSR
implications from pure economical boundaries. In this regards, corporate houses ensured
the potential use of business resources with no compromise to business ethics.

The concept lead to profit maximization without deception or fraud to any party i.e., CSR
Practices in Indian Banking Sector 855 lying within the rules of the game. In this period,
a socially responsible firm was identified as one which balances multiplicity of interests
instead of striving just forprofit making for its stockholders. Davis (1973) described CSR
as firm’s consideration and response to different issues which may rest beyond the
narrower territories of economic, technical and legal requirements of the firm. In this
phase researchers pointed out that CSR encompasses the economic, legal, ethical and
discretionary (philanthropic) expectations that society has at a given point of time.

In 80s and 90s a need was felt to give recognition to some new concepts like stakeholder
theory, Corporate Governance, and Corporate Social Performance, Corporate Citizenship,
Corporate Social Innovation and Communication of CSR practices through CSR
reporting. Lee (1997) explained CSR as the company’s commitment to operate in an

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economically and environmentally sustainable manner, while acknowledging the interests
of a variety of stakeholders and maximizing economic, social and environmental value.
Holmes and Watts (1999) defined CSR asthe continuing commitment by business to
behave ethically and contribute to economicdevelopment while improving the quality of
life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society
atlarge. Some researchers argued that corporations make more long term profits by
operating with a CSR perspective, while others argue that CSR distracts from the
economic role of businesses. However, Matten & Crane (2005) emphasized that the firms
will experience divergent degrees of internal, external and lateral pressures to engage in
CSR, as firms are embedded in different national business systems.

In the 21st century a general attempt was made to establish the linkage among economic,
legal, social and ethical standards so as to bring sustainable development. World Business
Council for Sustainable Development (2001) explained CSR as the commitment of
business to contribute towards sustainable economic development, working with
employees, their families and the local communities. Uhlaner et al (2004) discussed the
economic, legal, ethical, philanthropic aspects in regards to CSR. Juholin (2004) made a
distinction between CSR as simple legal compliance and CSR as conducting business
with a high regard for morality.

According to Friedman (2006) "There is one and only one social responsibility of
business- to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so
long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free
competition without deception or fraud". In contrast to Friedman’s statement, Robbins
and Coulter (2007) explained that the management‘s social responsibility goes beyond
making profit to include protecting and improving social‘s welfare of its stakeholders and
the environment in which the firm carries out its operations. They also have the
responsibility to the society that allow their formation through various laws and
regulations and support them through purchasing their products and services. (Carroll,
2008). Zain (2008) extending the Carroll’s statement said that ethical standards play an
important role in a firm's success in the long-run. The social responsibility standards and

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moral activities by a firm can create a positive rapport between the firm and all its
stakeholders. Sharma (2011) made an attempt to analyze CSR practices and CSR
reporting in India with special reference to banking sector and concluded that banking
sector in India is showing interest in integrating sustainability into their business models
but its CSR reporting practices are far from satisfaction.

Recently, CSR has gained much attention in the corporate world. As explained byHertz
(2012), earlier it was a form of capitalism that put much more emphasis on what
weowned, on whether we had a Gucci handbag for example, than on things like the
quality of our environment, the quality of the air we breathe, the kind of healthcare we
have, what makes us content and happy. She called it Gucci capitalism and predicted that
the gradual demise of Gucci capitalism will be followed by a new era of responsible the
community matters over individual and co-operation matters over competition. In short
during this phase the concept of CSR was showered with some divergent thoughts
covering economic, legal, ethical, philanthropic and social aspects of business houses.

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Role of banking sector in the development of the country

Banks play a crucial role in economic development. For the local community, banks
provide access to funding and financial services to both local business and citizens, as
well as the money banks invest back into the community through employee payroll,
business investments, and taxes. On a larger scale, national banks offer similar access to
credit and financial services to larger businesses, local governments, and in some cases
international customers. Investments made by national banks are spread widely across the
nation, therefore influencing economical development across an entire country or
geographic region. The specific role of banks in economic development varies,
depending on scope. Primarily, the participation of banks in economic development focus
around providing credit and services to generate revenues, which are then invested back
into a local, national, or international community.

The specific roles banks play in the economic development of a small community differ
from the role banks play in national or international economic development. Although the
role can vary, factors such as access to credit and bank investment policies or practices
remain constant, no matter the scope of economic development. One of the major
considerations that led to the nationalization of the fourteen major commercial banks of
India in 1969 was the fact that banks, in general, had been negligent of the vital priority
sectors of the economy, viz., agriculture and small-scale industries. The commercial
banks had remained largely indifferent to the credit needs of the farmers for agricultural
operations and land improvement. A handful of people were able to exploit the bank
finance to serve their own individual interests and convenience. Very often, they used
bank funds for the hoarding of essential articles and for specialization, thus nurturing
anti-social elements. Nationalization brought about a major policy shift in the working of
these banks. The economic development of our country depends more on real factors like
the industrial development, modernization of agriculture, organization of internal trade
and expansion of foreign trade, especially exports, and less on the monetary factors
contributed by banking— Economic planning like laying down of specific targets and
allocating particular sums of money that constitute the economic policy of the

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government also plays a significant role. Still we cannot under-estimate the importance of
banking and the monetary mechanism. One of the most important problems of a
developing economy is that of capital formation. There is a good deal of difference
between hoarding and saving and the people in the countryside have to be made to realize
the difference. This can be easily done by banks. They can undertake to educate the rural
populace and thus mobilize their savings.
A number of leading economists have confirmed the fact that the amount of capital
available in India for investment is surprisingly and inexplicably large. Only we need
exploiting this idle capital. Who else can exploit it, if not banks? Both in rural and urban
areas, huge amounts of money are wasted on celebrations like marriages and births. If
banks can offer handsome interest on savings, people can be induced to direct their
savings from wasteful activities to banks. Promoting attractive deposit schemes needs
some very active work on the part of the banks, but it can certainly mobilize a large
amount of saving for capital formation. The Government of India has now undertaken a
large number of projects for the economic reconstruction of the country. Banks can
generate an adequate volume of credit and conduct it along useful productive channels.
They can distinguish between the essential and nonessential factors of the economy
between productive and non-productive investment, between speculative arid non-
speculative borrowings and thus help in the growth of the economy. Before
nationalization, our banks could not play this constructive role expected of them. But
after nationalization, the entire banking machinery has now been geared to the economic
development of the country. They have started looking after the needs of the small farmer
and the new entrepreneur. It is earnestly hoped that the Government will take some more
positive steps to ensure that the real benefits of an organized banking system percolate
down to the poor illiterate masses of India.

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 EVOLUTION OF CSR

India has the world’s richest tradition of corporate social responsibility. Though the term
CSR is comparatively new, the concept itself dates back to over a hundred years. CSR in
India has evolved through different phases, like community engagement, socially
responsible production and socially responsible employee relations. Its history and
evolution can be divided into four major phases.

PHASE 1 (1850 TO 1914)

The first phase of CSR is known for its charity and philanthropic nature. CSR was
influenced by family values, traditions, culture and religion, as also industrialization. The
wealth of businessmen was spent on the welfare of society, by setting up temples and
religious institutions. In times of drought and famine these businessmen opened up their
granaries for the poor and hungry. With the start of the colonial era, this approach to CSR
underwent a significant change. In pre-Independence times, the pioneers of
industrialization, names like Tata, Birla, Godrej, Bajaj, promoted the concept of CSR by
setting up charitable foundations, educational and healthcare institutions, and trusts for
community development. During this period social benefits were driven by political
motives.

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PHASE 2 (1910 TO 1960)
The second phase was during the Independence movement. Mahatma Gandhi urged rich
industrialists to share their wealth and benefit the poor and marginalized in society. His
concept of trusteeship helped socio-economic growth. According to Gandhi, companies
and industries were the ‘temples of modern India’. He influenced industrialists to set up
trusts for colleges, and research and training institutions. These trusts were also involved
in social reform, like rural development, education and empowerment of women.

PHASE 3 (1950 TO 1990)

This phase was characterized by the emergence of PSUs (Public Sector Undertakings) to
ensure better distribution of wealth in society. The policy on industrial licensing and
taxes, and restrictions on the private sector resulted in corporate malpractices which
finally triggered suitable legislation on corporate governance, labour and environmental
issues. Since the success rate of PSUs was not significant there was a natural shift in
expectations from public to private sector, with the latter getting actively involved in
socio-economic development. In 1965, academicians, politicians and businessmen
conducted a nationwide workshop on CSR where major emphasis was given to social
accountability and transparency.

PHASE 4 (1980 ONWARDS)

In this last phase CSR became characterised as a sustainable business strategy. The wave
of liberalization, privatization and globalization (LPG), together with a comparatively
relaxed licensing system, led to a boom in the country’s economic growth. This further
led to an increased momentum in industrial growth, making it possible for companies to
contribute more towards social responsibility. What started as charity is now understood
and accepted as responsibility.

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KEY CHALLENGES/BARRIERS

The identification of key barriers to improved implementation of codes of conduct was

undertaken by testing a select group of key barriers (and underpinning assumptions)
already identified by the Bank Group in the Terms of Reference to the present
engagement. In the view of the Bank Group, these key barriers (key challenges) are
reasonably well documented and constitute an emerging consensus about areas that
prevent progress from being furthered. As such, the study started by testing these
challenges/ barriers—and the assumptions that underpin them—with the organizations
participating in the consultation process. Based on the findings of the consultations, the
challenges and underpinning assumptions were revised and added to, and finally, options
(solutions) for addressing the challenges were identified, as described in further detail
below:

The three key challenges, which are outlined in detail in annex A, are:

 The plethora of individual buyer CSR codes is now generating inefficiencies and
confusion. Inefficiencies have emerged as a result of the overlap and repetition
among buyers’ CSR programs. Suppliers assert that this imposes unnecessary
burdens both on buyers and suppliers. The challenge is to minimize these
inefficiencies, in ways that make sense for buyers and suppliers and that bring
desired benefits to all, notably to workers. Confusion refers to supplier claims that
the diversity of CSR requirements among buyers serves as a barrier to entry to
suppliers who do not know which route to follow to demonstrate their
commitment. Furthermore, confusion resulting from discrepancies and
inconsistencies in the details of CSR implementation can undermine consistent
CSR practice in the workplace. Here, too, the challenge is to minimize this
confusion with a view to mutual benefit.

 An increasing number of buyers are recognizing that traditional top-down CSR

strategies are not achieving improved CSR implementation. The challenge is to
adapt strategies in light of current supplier-level experiments that acknowledge
the importance of participation, empowerment, and capacity building targeting a
variety of stakeholders.

 The reticence of some suppliers to undertake CSR compliance reflects a view that
there is insufficient understanding of the business benefits associated with making
the required investments, including a failure on the part of suppliers to understand
standards as a part of the contractual relationship, rather than a debate over

23
 Western values. The challenge is to be clear about the business benefits at the
supplier level, and to develop business practices that maximize those benefits.7
Although the study remains focused on addressing this set of barriers and
challenges, other barriers and challenges brought up by participants during
consultations have been reviewed and analyzed, and are summarized in the report.

REMOVING ECONOMIC BARRIERS TO CSR

Although this study did not attempt either a macro or microeconomic analysis of supply
chains, it was clear that several strong economic currents are inhibiting the uptake of
CSR in supply chains.
At the macroeconomic level, some nations are reluctant to support CSR strongly for fear
that this will adversely impact investment.
For multinational enterprises, price pressure has grown more intense in recent years,
notably in the apparel and agriculture industries, where prices consumers pay for some
items have fallen in real terms.

These price pressures are widely agreed to have been passed along to suppliers, many of
whom are SMEs operating in developing economies, with little ability to control the ways
that this occurs.
Finally, and importantly, workers themselves—especially in labor-intensive industries
where little formal education is required for employment—are often least able to shape
economic outcomes.
One economic issue arose with some frequency: the question of the “mixed messages”
many believe buyers deliver as they push for improved supplier performance on
commercial issues, while at the same time they are also seeking improved social and
environmental performance.

Many of those consulted for this project stated that buyers need to come to terms with the
sometimes-conflicting imperatives that they place on suppliers.
There was wide recognition, including by some buyers’ representatives themselves, that
some of their staff reinforce the message about social and environmental practices, while
other staff create economic pressures related to price, quality, and delivery deadlines that
are mutually inconsistent.
Note that local buyers in India and China were not in full agreement with this. There
appears to be no single “solution” for this issue, although broad recognition and
discussion will help, as will clarification of the value of the business case.

24
Viewed from the perspective of buyers, the public pressure to create “independent” labor
compliance offices has perhaps had the unintended effect of decoupling social and
environmental concerns from commercial issues.
The fullest possible integration of commercial, social, and environmental concerns likely
will lead to the greatest progress, and arguably reduce some of the confusion buyers
propound and suppliers experience.

From the perspective of suppliers consulted through this project, there is a substantial
need to create a level playing field, based on their view that suppliers that fail to invest in
CSR now have an unfair economic advantage over those who do.
In addition, many suppliers expressed the view, heard frequently also by consortium
members outside the scope of this project, that suppliers would be far more willing to
invest in CSR if they had greater certainty that they would maintain their business with
buyers over an extended period of time.
One of the chief advantages of looking at these issues in a bottom-up manner is that the
impact of shifting supply chains diminishes, since a single supplier can be assured that its
performance would meet the concerns of all buyers.

Buyers likely would create greater incentives for suppliers to act if they sought to create a
smaller and more stable set of suppliers. Some buyers have already implemented this, to
some degree. As was reported in the convening with Chinese suppliers, “Participants
complained that achieving compliance does not create any loyalty on the part of most
buyers/brands.
Even if a facility were to be in compliance, participants said that most brands would
move orders elsewhere if they could find a better price.”
However, this could also lead to the unintended consequences of reducing the SMEs
engaged in CSR efforts, and the risk of creating a two-tiered set of producers, with some
focused on domestic markets with poor standards, and a small number of companies
producing under decent conditions for the export markets.

25
ADVANTAGES OF CSR

1. Satisfied employees.
Employees want to feel proud of the organization they work for. An employee with a
positive attitude towards the company, is less likely to look for a job elsewhere. It is also
likely that you will receive more job applications because people want to work for you.
More choice means a better workforce. Because of the high positive impact of CSR on
employee wellbeing and motivation, the role of HR in managing CSR projects is
significant.

2. Satisfied customers
Research shows that a strong record of CSR improves customers’ attitude towards the
company. If a customer likes the company, he or she will buy more products or services
and will be less willing to change to another brand.
Relevant research:
IBM study ‘Attaining Sustainable Growth through Corporate Social Responsibility’: The
majority of business executives believe that CSR activities are giving their firms
competitive advantage, primarily due to favorable responses from consumers.
Better Business Journey, UK Small Business Consortium: “88% of consumers said they
were more likely to buy from a company that supports and engages in activities to
improve society.”

3. Costs reductions
A CSR program doesn’t have to cost money. On the contrary. If conducted properly a
company can reduce costs through CSR.
Companies reduce costs by:
 More efficient staff hire and retention
 Implementing energy savings programs
 Managing potential risks and liabilities more effectively
 Less investment in traditional advertising

26
4. Positive PR
CSR provides the opportunity to share positive stories online and through traditional
media. Companies no longer have to waste money on expensive advertising campaigns.
Instead they generate free publicity and benefit from worth of mouth marketing.

5. Positive impact in the community

Keeping social responsibility front of mind encourages businesses to act ethically and to
consider the social and environmental impacts of their business. In doing so,
organizations can avoid or mitigate detrimental impacts of their business on the
community. In some cases, organizations will find ways to make changes in their services
or value chain that actually delivers benefits for the community, where they once didn’t.

6. It supports public value outcomes

Put simply, public value is about the value that an organization contributes to society. A
sound, robust corporate social responsibility framework and organizational mindset can
genuinely help organizations deliver public value outcomes by focusing on how their
services can make a difference in the community. This might happen indirectly, where an
organization’s services enable others to contribute to the community, or directly through
the organization’s own activities, such as volunteerism and philanthropy.

7. It encourages both professional and personal development

Providing employees with the opportunity to be involved in a company’s socially
responsible activities can have the benefit of teaching new skills to staff, which can in
turn be applied in the workplace. By undertaking activities outside of their usual work
responsibilities, employees have the chance to contribute to work and causes that they
might feel passionate about, or learn something entirely new which can help enrich their
own perspectives. By supporting these activities, organisations encourage growth and
support for employees.

27
8. It enhances relationships with clients
A strong corporate social responsibility framework is essential to building and
maintaining trust between the company and clients. It can strengthen ties, build alliances
and foster strong working relationships with both existing and new clients. One way this
can be achieved is by offering pro-bono or similar services where a company can partner
with not-for-profit organisations to support their public value outcomes, where funds or
resources may be limited. In turn, this helps deliver public value outcomes that may not
have been delivered otherwise.

9. Improves Public Image

Companies that demonstrate their commitment to various causes are perceived as more
philanthropic than companies whose corporate social responsibility endeavors are
nonexistent.
A corporation’s public image is at the mercy of its social responsibility programs and
how aware consumers are of these programs.
Corporations can improve their public image by supporting nonprofits through monetary
donations, volunteerism, in-kind donations of products and services, and strong
partnerships.

28
ARGUMENTS FOR CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

1. Business operation causes serious problems and so business has a moral

responsibility to solve them or at least ameliorate them

2. Even in problem areas where business is not guilty or causing them directly, business
should do something in its own enlightened self interest to promote social welfare.

3. One of the most important arguments for social involvement is that changing
public needs have led to changing expectations of business. Society gives
Business character to exist, that character can be amended or revoked at any time
that business fails to live up to society’s expectations .therefore if business wishes
to remain viable in the long run it must respond to society’s needs and give society
what it wants .as ducker has observed the first responsibility which management
owes to the enterprise is to consider such demands made by society on the
enterprise as may affect attainment of its business objectives .it is management job
to find a way to convert these demands from threats to or restrictions on, the
Enterprise freedom of action into opportunities for sound growth or at least to
Satisfy them with least damages to the enterprise.

4. Another argument for corporate social responsibility is that business responsibility

should be related to its power as it is reasoned that business has large amounts of
Social power .it affects the environment, consumers, community conditions and many
other areas of society .in turn equal amount of responsibility is required to match the
power, because any other arrangement would invite irresponsible behavior would
reduce the public good.

5 . Each individual firm seeks an enchanced public image so that it can gain more
customers ,better employees ,and other benefits .it can be possible by assuming social
responsibility beyond the commercial and legal obligations .

29
ARGUMENTS AGAINST CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

1. The arguments against and for assumptions of social responsibilities by business

represent basically the classical and neo –classical school of economic through
respectively. Adam smith and Milton freedman belong to the classical school of
through. The thoughts of john meynard Keynes, Elton, mayo, Adolf belle .an
outline of the pros and cons of corporate social responsibility of business follows.
The most powerful arguments against corporate social responsibility is that
business has profit mazimation as its main objective, since business operates in a
world of scare resource the economic efficiency

2. The most powerful argument against corporate social responsibility is that

business has profit maximization as its main objective .since business operates in
a world of scarce resources the economic efficiency of business is a matter of top
priority and be the sole mission business ,business function is economic not social
and economic values should be the criteria used to measure succss .in this kind of
system it is assumed that managers are agents of the stockholders and all thierv
decisions are controlled by their desire and obligation to maximize profits for the
stock holders and all their decisions are controlled by their desire and obligation
to maximize profits for the stock holders .

30
 COPRPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSBILITY
TOWARDS DIFFERENT GROUPS

CORPORATION SHAREHOLDER
ITSELF
(OWNERS)

EMPLOYEES CONSUMERS

COMMUNITY
GOVERNMENT

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DISADVANTAGES OF CSR

1. Shift from the Profit-Making Objective

Milton Friedman, an economist, is the biggest critic of CSR. He says that CSR shifts the
focus of the company from the objective that made it a financial entity in the first place –
profit-making. The company forgets about its obligations towards its shareholders that
they have to make profits for them. Instead of focusing on making profits, they engage in
CSR programs and use up funds for community welfare.
So basically, instead of an income, the company is effecting an outflow of cash and not
fulfilling its profit-making obligations.

2. Company Reputation takes a hit

According to CSR policies, companies have to disclose shortcomings of even their own
products if they are found to violate the CSR program. For example, car manufacturing
companies calling back their vehicles in large numbers when they find glitches in the
model after having sold them wallops their reputation.
This creates inconvenience to the customers, and they lose trust in the manufacturer.

3. Customer Conviction
Initially, customers like to see the companies that they trust are engaged in social welfare
programs. They like the fact that these programs are for a good cause. Later, they grow
wary of it. If they don’t see instant results from these programs, they think that these are
nothing but PR stunts. So it becomes difficult to convince customers that the results will
take some time in coming and that they should continue believing in the good intentions
of the company.
These attempts of convincing become fruitless day by day because some customers are
impatient and have a constant desire to be appeased.

32
 4. Increase in Cost of Production
More often than not, CSR programs increase the expenditure of the company. This
increased expenditure is reflected in the increased prices of the product for which,
ultimately, the customers have to pay.
Large corporations can absorb this increased expenditure. They may not increase their
products’ prices, but small businesses have no other option but to increase their products’
prices to meet their increased expenses.

5. It requires higher costs

One known disadvantage of CSR policy is that its costs generally fall disproportionally,
especially on small companies. While big corporations are able to afford allocating a
budget to CSR reporting, smaller businesses that employ between 10 and 200 employees
usually face difficulties with such investment. Though they would be able to utilize social
media to communicate such a policy to the local community and their customers, it
would take time to monitor exchanges, which could require hiring extra personnel that
they might not be able to afford. There is even the common belief that the costs of CSR
would lead to the downfall of small businesses, as most of them do not have the budget
needed to be socially responsible. According to critics, these organizations cannot afford
the social media solutions, training and equipment needed to pull off being socially
responsible.
In conclusion, regardless of whether banks have an honest ‘green’ strategy or are merely
adopting ethical practices with the underlying goal of maximising profit, it is evident that
within banking we are entering a highly demanding new environment where banks are
faced with the challenge of trying to gain a competitive advantage within a highly
regulated industry.
This evolution has been countered by the growth in social and sustainable behaviour
within business and as a result, has provided banks with new opportunities to remain
competitive and attract new ethical investors.

33
CSR WITHIN THE BANKING INDUSTRY

UK & US Global Fortune 500 companies spend $15.2bn a year on CSR activities. In the
wake of the global credit crisis, the banking industry has faced intensified regulatory
pressures and public scrutiny.

The record level of regulatory fines and penalties as a result of banking malpractice has
presented banks with the challenge of needing to restore public trust and establish clear
and transparent business models. As a result, many top banks have begun to integrate
CSR factors within their long-term investment strategy. This has served as a foundation
not only for developing new products and new growth opportunities, but has also ensured
better management of risk in the banks’ overall investment strategies.

For a bank, the integration of ESG is costly, both in terms of financial investment and in
relation to organizational practices.

From a financial perspective, the costs of implementing CSR and sustainability within a
bank may include:

 Capital costs of CSR initiative – cost of new equipment, new products etc.

 Recurrent cost: Continuous monitoring of compliance and CSR practices, trainings.

 Communication costs: Communication of ethical codes/conducts to all stakeholders.

 Staff costs: Recruitment of skilled employees, creation of dedicated team etc.

From a strategic perspective, banks will have to adopt new policies and practices within
their organizational structure. This may include retraining staff, adopting new risk
management practices and being highly selective with their investment portfolios.

34
POTENTIAL BUSINESS BENEFITS

1. Human resources:
A CSR program can be an aid to recruitment and retention, particularly within the
competitive graduate student market. Potential recruits often consider a firm's CSR
policy. CSR can also help improve the perception of a company among its staff,
particularly when staff can become involved through payroll giving, fundraising activities
or community volunteering. CSR has been credited with encouragingcustomer orientation
among customer-facing employees.

2. Risk management:
Managing risk is an important executive responsibility. Reputations that take decades to
build up can be ruined in hours through corruption scandals or environmental accidents.
These draw unwanted attention from regulators, courts, governments and media. CSR can
limit these risks.

3. Brand differentiation
CSR can help build customer loyalty based on distinctive ethical values. Some companies
use their commitment to CSR as their primary positioning tool, e.g., The Co-operative
Group, The Body Shop and American Apparel Some companies use CSR methodologies
as a strategic tactic
to gain public support for their presence in global markets, helping them sustain a
competitive advantage by using their social contributions as another form of advertising.

4. Reduced scrutiny
Corporations are k een to avoid interference in their business through taxation and/or
regulations. A CSR program canpersuade governments and the public that a company
takes health and safety, diversity and the environment seriously, reducing the likelihood
that company practices will be closely monitored.

35
 5. Supplier relations
Appropriate CSR programs can increase the attractiveness of supplier firms to potential
customer corporations. E.g., a fashion merchandiser may find value in an overseas
manufacturer that uses CSR to establish a positive image— and to reduce the risks of bad
publicity from uncovered
Misbehavior

36
CSR: What the banking industry should really focus
On?

The banking industry throws up an interesting conundrum. Unlike the manufacturing

sector it does not naturally cause emissions, however the world of finance impacts almost
everything in the modern world. It’s influence on environment, society and communities
has to therefore be viewed with a different lens.

Let’s first understand the banking industry. Banks cover four broad verticals. A universal
bank covers all, others cover one or more. The four broad verticals are:

 Retail: This caters to individuals with limited to reasonable means. Deposits,

housing and personal loans, credit cards, insurance etc. are covered here.

 Commercial: This caters to small and medium sector enterprises. Its products
include working capital loans, project loans, bank guarantees etc.

 Institutional: This caters to large institutions as well as high net worth

individuals (private banking). Activities are similar to retail and commercial -
scale differs.

 Markets: The bank trades in stocks. bonds, currency, foreign exchange,

commodities. It does so both for its clients as well as on its own (proprietary
trading). It also provides research services to its clients, manages M&A deals,
supports financing and provides advisory.

A critical ingredient for a bank’s well being is its customers and society. Due to
increasing linkages between banks and other parts of the financial system risk moves
quickly from banks to their entire financial system.

Banks suffer from episodes of failures and economy wide impact. These are more often
than not caused by unethical practices, such as those caused by individual bankers that
hold the system to ransom or unethical products that lead to the collapse of Wall Street in
2008. The story of collapses keeps repeating itself.

Banks need to therefore continually worry about the risks they face. Hence risk becomes
an underlying theme for banks.

37
However, risk and its nature is evolving because the industry too is changing rapidly.

1. Banks are increasing losing their brick and mortar character. With a significant portion
of banking activity now being online and on the cloud, security risks are becoming
prominent.

2. Payment banks are likely to start operating in India shortly. These would enable
smooth transfer of money and increase financial inclusion in the country. Since, these are
not “proper” banks material concerns would be around their ability to manage risk and
provide a seamless service.

3. The emergence of cyber currencies like Bitcoin is likely to disrupt financial markets.
Currently these are issued in the private domain with little backing.This risk is significant
but localized to those who are using them. As and when these currencies start getting
sovereign backing or countries start issuing their own cyber currency the economic
system is likely to be transformed.

Across verticals, the following issues emerge:

Risk management: At risk is the customer’s money and consequently her well-being.
Capital adequacy and adequate focus on lending risk will ensure societal well-being. This
is critical since banking failures could have a domino effect on the economy. Failures
also impose a cost on taxpayers.
Issues: What steps do banks take to minimize risk?

Customer data protection and privacy: This is a critical ingredient of banking.

Customer and society’s well-being is at risk here.
Issues: What steps do banks take to minimize loss of customer data?

Sustainable finance/investment: Banks need to be careful of where they lend.

Industries that are polluting or cause environmental degradation are prime cases where
banks should exercise caution. Banks can play an effective role by binding these
companies to targets for improving the environment.
Internally, banks can target areas like paperless banking, reducing carbon emission from
power equipment or cash management transportation, operating out of LEED certified
(green) buildings, etc.
Issues: How can banks enable companies to mitigate emissions and hazardous waste
disposal? What can banks do to reduce their own carbon footprint?

Community engagement: Banks often engage with communities to fulfill their social
obligations as an offshoot of the lack of direct impact. Initiatives like customer education,
loan waivers and opening bank accounts in remote areas are touted as community

38
services. This is a fine line – most of them end up as a means of either increasing
business or are mandated by government.
Issues: How do we distinguish business related actions? What activities should banks
undertake to engage with communities?
Anti Money Laundering (AML) : This along with terrorism financing is critical from
societal perspective. Banks have to be sensitive to this issue and ensure sufficient controls
are in place. Lives could be at stake here. Also, it corrodes the financial system. From
banking perspective as well fines by regulators causes diminution of shareholder value.

39
CSR in Banking Sector

Banking in India originated in the last decades of the 18th century with the establishment
of General Bank of India in 1786 and the Bank of Hindustan set up in 1870 (however
both of the banks are now defunct). The oldest bank existing in India is the State Bank of
India and the apex regulatory authority of Indian banking sector is Reserve Bank of India.
At present, the commercial banking structure in India consists of Scheduled Commercial
Banks & Unscheduled Banks. Since independence, banking in India has evolved through
four distinct phases:
o Foundation phase (1950s till the nationalization of banks in 1969),
o Expansion phase (mid-60s to 1984),
o CSR Practices in Indian Banking Sector 857
o Consolidation phase (1985 to 1991) and
o Reforms phase (since 1992).
In recent years an attempt has been initiated to ensure socially responsible behavior of
banking sector in a more organized manner. The CSR in Indian Banking Sector is aimed
towards addressing the financial inclusion, providing financial services to the unbanked
or untapped areas of the country, the socio-economic development of the country by
focusing on the activities like, poverty eradication, health and medical care, rural area
development, self-employment training and financial literacy trainings, infrastructure
development, education, and environmental Protection etc. RBI also insisted upon taking
measures for sustainable development of economy through realizing the dire necessity of
CSR. Reserve Bank of India (2007) stated that CSR Entails the integration of social and
environmental concerns by companies in their Business operations and also in
interactions with their stakeholders. The major thrust areas for CSR practice in Indian
banks are common in public sector and private sector banks. These areas include children
welfare, community welfare, education, environment, healthcare, poverty eradication,
rural development, vocational training, women's empowerment, protection to girl child
and employment.

40
Chart 1. 1: Core thrust areas for reported CSR activities in public sector banks

However the core areas for reporting CSR activities are slightly different in both types of
banks. The analysis of three core activity areas as depicted by these banks reflected some
prominent fields for CSR activities. These areas could be shown by the following Charts.
The X axis of chart represents the fields and the Y axis of the chart represents the number
of banks, claiming these areas, out of the selected sample. Chart 1.1 reports the thrust
areas of the public sector banks. Indian public sector banks most actively participate for
improvement of regional imbalances through initiating various activities for promotion of
rural development. Besides it, they principally focus on the issues of gender equality
through women'sempowerment. The major areas investigated for reporting CSR activities
in private sector banks are indicated in Chart 1.2.

41
Chart 1.2: Core thrust areas for reported CSR activities in private sector banks.

The chief domains for reporting CSR activities in Indian private sector banks are
toenhance the level of education and employment. The other prominent areas for their
concern include community welfare, programmes for child welfare and protection of
environment. As indicated in Chart 1.2 CSR practices of the selected banks represents a
wide spectrum of different activities including rural development, community
development and social welfare, family initiatives, women's empowerment and
environment protection. A significant part of the bank’s annual earnings is used tosupport
structures, events and individuals across diverse areas of child healthcare and education,
entertainment, environmental beautification, human capital developmentand arts. The
study of core areas as reported by the selected banks reveal that primary concern for both
type of bank is social welfare. However both have different approach to promote the
same. The general trend of selected public sector banks are mainly practices for rural
development and removal of gender inequality. On the other hand, the core operational
CSR activities in private sector banks are focused on education and employment for all

42
and mitigating the risk of environmental degradation through their green banking
strategies

Rural Branch Expansion:

This variable is used to measure the extent up to which the banks are following the financial
inclusion policy formulated by the Reserve Bank of India to promote balanced growth of the
economy. Chakraborty (2009) explained financial inclusion as the process of ensuring access to
appropriate financial products and services needed by vulnerable groups such as weaker sections
and low income groups at an affordable cost in a fair and transparent manner by mainstream
Institutional players. However, illiteracy and the low income savings and lack of bank branches in
rural areas continue to be a road block to financial inclusion in many states. Apart from this there
is inadequate legal and financial structure. According to Vijay Mahajan (2008), private
ownership, good governance, professional management, no caps on interest rates, and most
importantly, commitment to local areas and local community are a few factors that could lead to
financial inclusion. It can be interpret from the table 3 that public banks are having highest
number of rural branches in all the three years and have increased from 4697(2009-10) to
5250(2011-12). The minimum number of rural branches of public banks was 69 in the year 2009-
10 and 91 in the year 2011-12. SBI is the top performer among rural branch expansion variable
and IDBI is the least performer in rural branch expansion variable among public banks. The
highest number of rural branches of private sector banks was 220 in the year 2009-10 that have
increased from 220 to 285 in the year 2011-12. The lowest number of rural branches of private
sector banks was 16 in the year 2009-10 and 31 in the year 2011-12. Jammu and Kashmir Bank is
the top performer in rural branch expansion variable and YES banks is the least performer in rural
branch expansion variable among private sector banks. Foreign banks are having lowest number
of rural branches in three consecutive years, 0 (Minimum) and 2 (Maximum) rural branches only.
CITI and Standard Chartered banks don’t have any branch in rural areas. Thus overall it can be
interpret from the table 3 that public banks are leading in rural branch expansion then private
sector banks and at last foreign banks.

43
Priority Sector Lending:
As described by the Reserve Bank of India, Priority Sector lending means lending to the
agriculture, small scale and ancillary industries, new and renewable sources of energy, cottage
industries, artisans, food and agro based processing, education, housing and weaker section.
While for domestic banks, both the public and private sectors are required to lend 40 per cent of
their net bank credit (NBC) to the priority sector, foreign banks are required to lend 32 per cent of
their NBC to the priority sector. It has been observed that while banks often tend to meet the
overall priority sector targets, they sometimes tend to miss the sub-targets. This is particularly
true in case of domestic banks failing to meet their sub-targets for agricultural advances. One of
the reasons banks often site for not lending to this sector is that recovery is often difficult. From
the table 3 it can be interpreted that PSL Priority sector lending ratio was 35.70 (Maximum) and
22.43 (Minimum) in the year 2009-10 for public banks, while the PSL ratio has increased from
35.70 to 35.75 in the year 2011-12. The top performer among public banks in PSL ratio variable
is Oriental Bank of Commerce while the least performer bank is Bank of India as per the PSL
ratio of 2011-12. Priority sector lending ratio was 37.44 (Maximum) and 20.24 (Minimum) in the
year 2009-10 for private sector banks, while the PSL ratio has decreased from 37.44 to 36.53 in
the year 2011-12. The top performer among private sector banks in PSL ratio variable is
Karnataka Bank while the least performer bank is South Indian Bank as per the PSL ratio of
2011-12. Priority sector lending ratio was 45.24 (Maximum) and 26.55 (Minimum) in the year
2009-10 for foreign banks, while the PSL ratio has decreased from 45.24 to 40.56 in the year
2011-12. The top performer among foreign banks in PSL ratio variable is Royal Bank of Scotland
while the least performer bank is Deustche bank as per the PSL ratio of 2011- 12. Thus overall it
can be interpret from the table 3 that foreign banks are leading in the PSL ratio variable, then
private sector banks and at last public banks.

Environment Protection
: This variable includes all the activities carried out by the banks for the purpose of environment
protection or to reduce the environmental harm by adopting different initiatives, replacing
traditional activities by eco friendly processes or activities in day to day business. Adenekan
(2007), Joyner and Payne (2002), concluded that a growing number of companies in many sectors
and geographic regions havediscovered concrete value and competitive advantage from socially
responsible practices in pollution prevention, energy efficiency, environmentally oriented design,
supply chain management, and health and sustainable agriculture initiatives, among others. For

44
these firms, CSR has had a positive impact on profits. The World Bank has also pressurised the
banks not to finance the projects, which are causing harm to the environment either directly or
indirectly. The major activities performed by banks in this field are as follows: ¾ No credit to
businesses involved in Ozone depletion, human rights violation, controversial weapons, gambling
or pornography activities. ¾ Awareness programs about ‘avoiding the usage of plastic bags’ and
‘reduced use of paper in offices’. ¾ Promoting and financing energy saving and solar energy
projects. ¾ Encouraging, financing and setting up of non-conventional energy generation units, ¾
Assistance for rain water harvesting tanks ¾ Wild animal protection projects ¾ Tree plantation
drives ¾ Projects related to reduction of carbon emissions

Education:
This variable is used to measure the contribution of banks in the field of education. In India Rao
(1964) and the Education Commission (1966) emphasised the links between education and
development. Fields (1980) and Tilak (1978) explained that education and poverty are inversely
related: the higher the level of education of the population, the lower would be the proportion of
poor people in the total population, as education imparts knowledge and skills that are associated
with higher wages. The major activities carried out by the banks in the field of education are as
follows: ¾ Support to low income family students with financial assistance, free uniform and
books ¾ Motivational camps to go to school, for the students of rural areas. ¾ concession in
interest on education loans for backward class students ¾ Establishing library-cum-reading rooms
in rural areas and providing fans, water coolers etc. to schools. ¾ Promotion and financial support
education of special children, ¾ Tie-ups with educational institutes for providing education loans,
interest subsidy schemes for students belonging to economically weaker sections ¾ School
adoption projects ¾ Special educational sponsorships for the girl child ¾ Educational assistance
by giving donations ¾ Opening of pre-schools and assistance in mid day meal programs for the
students.

Community Welfare
: This variable is used to measure the activities performed by the banks for the welfare of the
community. As per the data, highest number of banks has contributed in this CSR activity. Some
of the common activities in this field are: ¾ Donations to orphanages ¾ Free food distribution to
the poor patients of government health care centres ¾ Health awareness programmes ¾ Free
health checkups ¾ Campaigns against usage of drugs, alcohol and smoking ¾ Construction of

45
toilets, community halls and dispensaries. ¾ Helping disabled persons by donating artificial
limbs/callipers/wheelchairs etc. ¾ Providing free medical facilities to the poor people ¾
Community welfare through helping NGOs ¾ Blood donation camps ¾ Donations for disaster
relief and accident victims

Financial Literacy:
As per the Reserve Bank of India, Financial literacy is providing familiarity with and
understanding of financial market products, especially rewards and risks, in order to make
informed choices. It is the ability to know, monitor, and effectively use financial resources to
enhance the well-being and economic security of oneself, one's family, and one's business.
Financial literacy has assumed greater importance in the recent years, as financial markets have
become increasingly complex and as there is information asymmetry between markets and the
common person, leading to the latter finding it increasingly difficult to make informed choices. In
India, the need for financial literacy is even greater considering the low levels of literacy and the
large section of the population, which still remains out of the formal financial set-up. Credit
Counselling can be defined as counselling that explores the possibility of repaying debts outside
bankruptcy and educates the debtor about credit, budgeting, and financial management. In view
of the above two points the RBI has initiated a scheme for setting up of Financial Literacy and
Credit Counselling (FLCC) Centres by the banks. Certain banks have not just opened the FLCC
centres but have also taken other measures to promote finance education among people.

New Initiatives related to CSR

: This variable is used to measure the new CSR initiatives taken by the banks in the respective
year for which CSR has been measured. Some of the major initiatives taken by the banks are
listed below: ¾ Programs for promotion of women entrepreneurs ¾ Village adoption schemes ¾
Green initiatives like electricity audit of bank office ¾ Establishment of Butterfly park which
houses medicinal plants ¾ Tree Plantation Drives ¾ Spreading awareness on Climate Change and
Global Warming, joining hands with ‘World Wide Fund of Nature’ (WWF) and ‘The Indus
Entrepreneurs’ (TIE)

46
Women’s Welfare:
This variable indicates the activities done in the direction of welfare of women and girl
child. Some of the activities which banks are performing in the field of the women welfare are as
follows: ¾ Free or concessional education for poor girls, scholarships to girl students ¾
Concessions on the interest rate for girl student, ¾ Project for Women Weavers in Varanasi, ¾
Insurance policies specially for rural and urban poor women, ¾ Special credit cards issued for
women ¾ Women empowerment through donation of sewing machines for self employment, ¾
Maternal Nutrition Project, ¾ Support to Indian School of Microfinance for Women (ISMW),

Farmer’s Welfare:
Indian economy has always been an agriculture based economy. Although the contribution of
agriculture to the GDP of the country has decreased in past years, a large portion of population
still depends upon agriculture for its survival. However, the agriculture sector is still in a meagre
state. Due to the poor economic health of agriculture sector, India observes a large number of
cases of suicide among the farmers. It has been felt that there is an urgent requirement to promote
investments in this sector and welfare of the farmers. Some of the major activities done by the
banks under the farmer’s welfare are as follows: ¾ Agriculture Debt Waiver & Debt Relief
Scheme ¾ Loan for Solar Water Heating Systems at concessional rate, ¾ Rural Extension
Education Programmes enabling farmers & entrepreneurs to improve their
productivity/production, ¾ Establishment of Farmers clubs, ¾ Farmers’ Training Centres (FTCs),
¾ Special credit cards for farmers, ¾ Agriculture knowledge sharing Programs, ¾ National
insurance programs for agriculture ¾ Financing rural godowns and cold storages/warehouses, ¾
Debt Swap Schemes ¾ Setting up agriculture clusters for better farming ¾ Commodity finance
against pledge of warehouse receipts of agro commodities

47
DIFFERENT KEY AREAS

1. Education:
Almost all the banks in India have given due importance to education. Some of the banks
have donated money whereas some have helped the schools in other different facilities
such as Allahabad Bank is providing fans in each classroom and staffroom in Primary
Schools and helping schools in providing the drinking water to children. The bank have
incurred Rs. 26.68 lacs in financial year 2015-16.
Education plays a very important role in everybody’s life.SBI as a leading public sector
bank plays a very key role in the field of education. It helps the needy people by
providing education loan in the field of education. SBI Education Loans has grown by
9.43% during FY 2012-13. It has a total exposure of Rs. 13,751 cores as on Mar
2013.SBI Loan & women empowerment a sum of Rs. 10 lakh was donated to
Ramakrishna Mission Sister Nivedita Girls'' School. Rs. 6 lakh to Rajiv Gandhi
Foundation, New Delhi for purchasing vehicles with disabled-friendly attachment. Bank
of Baroda has been giving donations for the following purposes for the spread of
education – including for the girl child and womenfolk in remote villages. To reputed
colleges/public schools and other similar institutions.
Likewise Andhra bank is setting up a school in the campus of Andhra University in
Vishakhapatnam. Along with the Andhra Pradesh Government and NABARD, it has set
up APBIRED for providing training to unemployed youth for improving their skills. In
the year 2007-2008, the bank has donated 2.14cr to various trusts and NGOs. Allahabad
Bank has launched a scheme to meet the total financial requirement of self help groups
(SHGs) members for taking up economic activities and meeting social needs such as
Housing, Health, Marriage, Educations and Consumption and Swapping of debts to
informal lenders. Total financial assistance under the scheme is to the extent of Rs.
50,000/- per member of SHG with a maximum ceiling of Rs. 5.00 lakhs per SHG.

48
2. Rural Development:
Umpathaw, a village with around 100 households, 80 kilometres from Shillong
became the 750th village to get access to potable water, a smart school with clean
toilets and livelihood support for several households under the HDFC Bank’s Holistic
Rural Development Programme (HRDP).
While the bank with its NGO partner SACH has built 6 water tanks and a network of
pipelines at the cost of Rs 31 lakh to ensure water is sourced from the mountains and
then supplied to 106 households, the village head Sarkin told: “This is the first time
since independence that water has reached all households. Earlier, villagers would
have to go at least 500 metres to get water from a spring water source.”
Similarly like education most of the banks of India have invested in Rural
Development. Some of them are educating rural people by Financial Literary Centers
whereas some of them have given financial help to villages. Union Bank of India’s
Adarsh Gram is the example of Rural development.
Under this programme, the bank carries out an assessment of the village to understand
its developmental needs and then long-term sustainable solutions are carried out in
partnership with an NGO and local community. The beneficiaries of HRDP include
small farmers, youth, children and women. “Our NGO partners play an instrumental
role in planning and executing projects. We work also closely with local
communities, who participate in the projects through ‘Shramda’, to make the
initiative sustainable,” said Nusrat Pathan, head, corporate social responsibility,
HDFC Bank.
With HDRP, the bank is looking to better the life of villagers by bringing
improvement in the areas of education, skills training, natural resource management,
water and sanitation and financial literacy and inclusion.

49
3. Children and Women:
For the encouragement of women empowerment or girl child many government and non-
government organisations are working in India. GOI has introduced “beti padhao, beti
bachao” similarly banks are giving scholarships for girls’ education. Allahabad bank has
distributed 1861 scholarships belonging to BPL families in financial year 2015-16, the
disbursement amounted to Rs.55.83 lacSocial Community Welfare: This category
includes the welfare activities for society welfare as whole. In this category all the
welfare activities can be included like Axis Bank work for Armed Forces vetrans and
union bank of India’s Union Social Foundation. In this category they talk about the
different social issues to be taken care of in India Empowerment of Women' a key
component of socio-economic growth and stability of a developing country like India has always
been the priority objective of Canara Bank since its inception. The Bank's journey for over a
century has been with care and concern for the society where we live in, especially the women
folk.

50
 Upgrading the Running Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETI):-
At present 21 RSETIs are running by Allahabad Bank Rural Development Trust
which is being sponsored by Allahabad Bank. RSETIs provide intensive short-term
residential self-employment Training Programmes to poor Rural Youths with free
food and accommodation for taking up Self-Employment initiatives and Skill up
gradation for running their Micro-Enterprises successfully. More emphasis is given
training to members of BPL family.

1. Provision for toilets for boys and girls in the Primary schools

2. Provision for drinking water in the primary schools

3. Providing Electric fan in each class room and staff room in the Primary Schools.

4. Social Welfare of the common people.

5. Women empowerment

6. Welfare of the Girl Child.

4. Health:
Health is the last category where different banks offer various health facilities to the
deprived people. Axis bank have started health and trauma care centres in different areas.
Bank of India also have different schemes like Ambulances to Hospitals catering to
economically challenged sections of the society, rural areas, etc. ultra-modern medical
equipment’s to Family Planning Centres and other hospitals. Wheel chairs to physically

51
challenged sportspersons and others. Gensets for running equipments in hospitals for the
Cancer patients.
clean and hygienic conditions at schools and work places are prerequisites for the future
of a developed and blooming India. Aligning with Mahatma Gandhi's dream project of a
clean and filth-free India. several initiatives have been undertaken to work shape a
favourable learning environment in the schools of rural India.

As per the HDFC BANK plan

In line with the Swachh Bharat campaign, one of our primary focus areas under CSR, is
creating conducive environment for children in schools. In partnership with 8 not-for-
profit organisations across 8 states of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra,
Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Meghalaya, we have covered more than 850
Government schools touching over 1.16 lakhs students. Our focus is not only in
providing sanitation infrastructure but it also encompasses behavioural change (WASH-
Water, Sanitation and Health). We believe that the family and school play a key role in
shaping a child’s life and hence our WASH programme integrates these stakeholders into
bringing a sustainable behavioural change in school as well as at community level.
Besides, we have also provided facilities for potable water as well as improvement in basic
infrastructure in schools.

52
Sector wise Deployment: The breakup of sectoral deployment of SBI’s CSR spends
during the year has been as under:

CSR Activities Amount (` in crores)

National Donation s 5.50
Supporting Education 38.33
Supporting Healthcare 15.03
Assistance to underprivileged 5.37
Research & Development 3.75
Supporting Culture 1.15
Environment Protection 0.67
Other projects 1.38
Total 71.18

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CSR PRACTICES BY MAJOR BANKS IN INDIA
1. State Bank of India

(A).Healthcare & Sanitation

a. Hospital on train.
The vast majority of rural population is deprived of basic medical facilities due to lack of
healthcare infrastructure in these parts of the country. SBI Foundation is committed to
bring about positive changes in the lives of underprivileged sections of society. We have
partnered with Impact India Foundation to take free medical treatment which includes
surgeries conducted for the restoration of sight, movement, hearing, correction of facial
deformities an the prevention and treatment of epilepsy and dental problems, all free of

54
cost, to the underprivileged in remote areas using world’s first state of art hospital on
train “Life Line express, This year we took Life Line express to three remote locations,
Goalpara in Assam, Junagarh Rd. Bhavanipatna, Kalahandi district in Odisha and
Kazipet, Warangal district in Telangana.

b. Project eye care

In Thane and Palghar Dist. Of Maharashtra, SBIF is changing lives by conducting
cataract surgeries and giving back the gift of vision to over 3000 patients.SBI Foundation
has partnered with Sri Chaitanya Seva Trust to eradicate preventable blindness through
cataract surgeries of rural & tribal population of Thane & Palghar districts of
Maharashtra state. Under the project regular check-up camps are conducted with the help
of doctors and provides service free of cost to the identified patients in their multi-
specialty hospital. Eye check-up camps are being organized in the vicinity of selected
villages where patients are counseled and examined before advising for cataract
surgery.Patients from needy families are identified (more than 3000 patients), located and
brought to the Bhakti Vedanta Hospital for 2 days for conducting cataract surgery.
Patients are given accommodation, nursing care, medicines, eye-drops etc., all free of

55
cost; they are also dropped back to their respective villages after the surgery is conducted.
They are also given free medicines for 40 days and a pair of black glasses

c.Gift Hope Gift Life

It is estimated that 500,000 people in India need kidney, liver and heart transplants,
against which we do only around 8000 transplants, which barely meets 1 to 2% annual
demand of organs. The supply of organs from living donors will soon peak and the only
way this program will be able to grow is through deceased donors. For some organs like
heart and lungs, deceased donors are the only source. Hence, there is need for
augmenting deceased organ donation program in the country.SBI foundation has started
the project “Gift Hope Gift Life” - Augmenting deceased organ donation program in
partnership with MOHAN Foundation which aims to address the problems like lack of
awareness, lack of readiness of medical fraternity etc. and create an enabling environment
for Organ donation in India.An exclusive SBI Mohan Foundation helpline, a toll free
national helpline for Organ donation is set up by MOHAN Foundation. This is for callers
from pan India in 6 different languages for the purpose of dissemination of information
on organ donation and transplantation.We have also initiated organ donation program in
the state of Odisha by entering into a dialogue with the Health Ministry. With the support
from the ministry, stakeholders meetings are planned to be organized for rolling out of

56
the program. We will also initiate public education in the major cities in the state as well
as hospital counselling programme in government hospitals. We will work closely with
the government to help frame relevant government orders (GOs) that will facilitate organ
donation and create an environment to augment organ donation in the state.We will also
conduct training of transplant coordinators, intensivists, and young surgeons in the area
of organ donation, organ retrieval and storage. In addition, volunteers will be trained as
“Angels of Change” to spread awareness on organ donation.The project will create
awareness through our social media platforms and dissemination of knowledge through
the Helpline, pledging of Organs by public and SBI Employees (2.5 lac employees), train
number of Coordinators, Intensivist, surgeons and Volunteers to facilitate organ donation.
It will help the entire country at large.

(B).Education
a. Gyanshala
SBI Foundation has partnered with Education Support Organsiation (ESO) to further the
common goal of providing quality education to slum children. Project Gyanshala has
been implemented in the slums of Ahmedabad to support education of 2150 slum
children from standard 4th to 8th Grade and to provide employment to 100-120 women
under this program. The Gyanshala Model has the potential to make a significant impact

57
on education policy, as well as other schools for improving education quality therein.
With the help of this project 2150 out-of-school/slum children would receive high quality
middle school education, and would attain learning attainments comparable to India’s
best CBSE schools, which shall be verified by an independent expert testing organization
(Educational Initiatives (EI) - Assessment of Scholastic Skills through Educational
Testing (ASSET test)

b.Beti padhao kendras

In rural India the girl child (Beti) is being deprived of many things and one of the most
important things she is missing out on is Education. There are multiple factors
responsible for this harsh truth of the Beti not being sent to schools in rural India. One of
them is that where the government schools are far off, the parents are apprehensive about
sending their young Beti to far located schools as it might subject the Beti to safety and
security related danger. Apart from this, there is socio-cultural aspect in play also, which
results in the male child in the house to get preferential favour for receiving the best of
opportunities and facilities that the family can offer to their children. This brings us to the
harsh truth that the Beti in most cases have to do the household work, take care of
younger siblings, feed the cattle while the parents are in the field and hence the Beti is
deprived of education in many cases.To address this issue, SBI foundation has started
200 BETI PADAO KENDRAs (BPK) in association with IIMPACT, an NGO started by
alumni of 1978 batch of IIM Ahmadabad. These Beti Padao Kendras are aimed at
imparting basic education (up to class 5th) to girl children in remote rural areas where
there are no formal schools. BPK is a tiny school in itself set up in the vicinity of the
community and the school is run by the teacher recruited from the respective village
itself. Looking at the girl child’s progress some of the mothers have also developed

58
interest in resuming or starting their own education. These BPKs are opened in remote
rural locations of Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Uttarakhand.

c. SBI Digital Class.

SBI Foundation started 50 “Digital Class” in Govt. schools in Medak district of
Telangana state, to provide digital technology to rural poor children studying in
Government schools. The digitalclass consists of projector, which doubles up as a
computer provides A/V converted curriculum.Complex theories and concepts become
easy to understand via video content. Digital classrooms will help and enable the students
to learn better.

(C).Skills and Livelihood Development

a. SBI Kaushal Vikas

SBI Foundation identified two broad issues which have strong bearing on the
marginalized communities and their livelihood patterns. The potential of the existing
resources is not fully tapped due to lack of inputs and skills leaving a weak livelihood
base, underemployment and unemployment. There is no proper mentoring support to
school dropouts and youth to transform them into responsible citizens with needed
attitude and skills. The contextual realities motivated us to partner with Centurion
University and adopt human capital reinforcement, effective and market oriented skill
development and facilitating the linkages for sustainability, as prime strategies to mitigate
the livelihood crisis in rural areas of Odisha. Under the project “Kaushal Vikas”, SBI
Foundation provides for skill development training of youth with emphasis on SC, ST &
women and up gradation of existing paramedic and allied health lab” to create a talent
pool of international standards who could secure employment in any market - an
outcome, which converges with the dream of the Honorable Prime Minister of making
India the “Skill Capital of the World”. The candidates from socio-economically
marginalized families of remote, rural and tribal regions of Odisha and adjoining eastern
states with focus on backward and Left Wing Extremist Affected (LWEA) districts are
the beneficiaries of this project.

59
(4).Women Empowerment & Care for Senior Citizens
a.Samriddhi
n line with one of our focus area of women empowerment, SBI Foundation and United
Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) have partnered for the project Samriddhi (Action for
Adolescent Girls” AAG”) in 150 villages of Chattarpur district of Madhya Pradesh.
Project aims to reach 3500-4500 girls covering 150 villages in selected blocks in the
selected district of Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh. The project aims to collectivize
adolescent girls and enhance their life skills, Health care and Financial literacy, build
their perspectives on gender and social equity and increase the possibilities of their
leadership in their own communities. The guiding principles of the proposed SBIF-
UNFPA project include enabling and equipping adolescent girls to face challenges rather
than protecting them.

b.Care for Senior citizens

The destitute old age people are increasing day by day due to decreased moral values,
nuclear families and other socio-economic factors. At old age, they are isolated and
thrown out of their living homes. Though, there are several old age homes but they are
functioning for commercial purpose or taking care of only those old people mentally and
physically fit.In alignment with our values of being a catalyst of change by supporting the

60
noble initiatives that do not receive sufficient support, SBI Foundation has partnered with
SHEOWS, for adopting 130 elderly persons at Garhmukteshwar Old age home in Uttar
Pradesh. SHEOWs is a Non-Profit Organization which serves the old people through
holistic institutional support free of cost.In this project we provide food, medical care and
other institutional activities at the old age home. We take care of helpless old aged found
on the streets of Delhi, those who are struggling for a single meal a day and have no
family to go to. Along with the day to day needs like food, we give them love, care,
friendship and also perform the cremation rituals in case of a sad demise of any of our
Old Age Home member.

(5).Sustainability & Environment

a. Haritha Khalingduar
Climate change and associated environmental changes are areas of grave concern in
today’s world. Increasing urbanization in the Northeast has led to rampant deforestation
which has resulted in elephants moving to areas where people live, in search of food and
water. This has caused massive damage to crops, homes, infrastructure and human lives.
Consequently, in order to save mankind, elephants were shot, poisoned, stoned &
harassed. SBI Foundation under one of Focus area environment and sustainability has
partnered with Balipara Tract & Frontier Foundation in the afforestation project phase -1,
in Udalguri district in Assam, adjacent to Khalingduar forest by planting 1.5 lakhs trees
in 150 hectare areas covering 12 villages viz.Hainaguri, Bormukuli, Sagolijhar, Odalbari,
Nonoikhuti, Mwinaguri(1), Mwinaguri(2), Basugaon, Mwidersali, Umananda,
Mwinaguri(3) and Saltalpara in Udalguri district in Assam.
(6).Rural Development

61
a. Drought proofing of villages
Several years of deficit rainfall in Marathawada region of Maharashtra has resulted in
severe drought affecting farming and daily lives of the inhabitants. With Rural
Development as one of our key focus areas, we are implementing a project for drought
proofing of 10 villages in Beed district in partnership with Dilasa Sanstha. The project
involves construction of Dohas in the bed level of stream so as to harvest rain water
below ground level. This helps in recharging ground water tables of nearby areas without
constructing any cement structure. The current intervention will strengthen the water
resources of 10 villages, address the drinking water problem, provide water for irrigation
which will enhance the agricultural income of farmers and ensure fodder supply which is
otherwise unimaginable in the prevailing circumstances

2. ICICI BANK
ICICI Foundation Programmes Amount (Millions)
CSO Partners 10
Digantar Shiksha Evam Khelkud Samiti 12.28
Tata Institute of Social Sciences 9 .56
The America India Foundation Trust 3.00

62
Eklavya Foundation 6.52
Jana Sanskriti Centre for Theatre of the Oppressed 2.08
Vikramshila Education Resource Society 2.00
Centre for Learning Resources 1.81
Janagraaha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy 1.94
Education Support Organisation 1.63
Save the Children 0.90
Other Grants / Project Expenses 1.1 0
ICICI Group CSR Give India - ICICI Bank Read to Lead Project 26.59
Dignity Foundation 25.00
Bhavishya Alliance 1.61
Give India – Speak for Smiles 7.00
TOTAL
112.93(APPROX)

(A). Education
Education represents a critical area of action to realise India’s growth potential as also
make it inclusive, by enabling children from all sections of society to have access to
quality basiceducation that equips them for taking up higher education or job-oriented
skill training. At thesame time, India’s institutions of higher learning also require
investment in capacity building to
support India’s growing and evolving needs and become global centres of excellence.
The Bank, both directly and through ICICI Foundation, will continue to work with
various bodies including state governments and other not-for-profit organisations to
improve the quality of education in government and municipal schools, which account
for the vast majority of school going children in the country. ICICI Bank will continue to
work with institutes of higher education for focused capacity-building in specified
disciplines, particularly finance & management.

63
(B). Health care
The healthcare challenge in India spans a number of dimensions, including access to
affordable healthcare for the poor; awareness of health issues & available facilities/
benefits among the less privileged segments of society and specific vulnerable sections of
the population; and child malnutrition, which impairs the capacity of a child to lead a
healthy and productive life. Addressing this challenge is essential to achieve the objective
of inclusive growth. The Bank and ICICI Foundation will continue to focus on
developing innovative models with the potential to scale up and bring about
improvements in the delivery of healthcare to the marginalized segments of society and
other appropriate measures to promote health care.

(C). Skill development and sustainable livelihoods

Enabling India’s youth to gain skills that can provide employment is key to realizing the
potential of India’s demographic dividend and driving inclusive growth. Improving
employability of the youth from lower-income sections of society is hence an important
focus area.
The ICICI Academy for Skills has been set up across the country to provide job-oriented
skill training to youth. Several centres have been set up across the country. In this
initiative, ICICIFoundation is also leveraging the skills and training capabilities of large
corporates in developingtraining modules in their respective domains. ICICI Foundation
is also liaisingwith corporates and businesses to get the trained youth employed, through
a job portal. ICICI Bank will continue to develop the ICICI Rural Self Employment
Training Institutes
(D). Financial inclusion
The Bank strongly believes that to improve the overall economic condition of the low-
income population and to empower them with means to overcome adversities or
inequalities, access to financial services is an important factor.
The Bank would continue to focus on expanding its reach and its initiatives in this area
include using various channels like branches and business correspondents, and leveraging
technology, to make banking services accessible to low-income groups and the rural
population, including the urban poor and migrant workers.

64
3.AXIS BANK
The Bank will support programs and activities in the following areas. The broad program
areas under CSR focus areas are given in the Annexure to this Policy.
1. To contribute to poverty alleviation and to reduce inequalities faced by socially and
economically backward sections of society through an integrated approach of
interventions in the areas of sustainable livelihood generation and support, women
empowerment, financial literacy, safe banking and access to formal banking channels,
health, sanitation and hygiene and public awareness on various pertinent social and
environmental topics like road and personal safety and environmental sustainability.
2. To promote environmental sustainability and ecological balance through sustainable
livelihood initiatives focused on natural resource conservation and management,
renewable energy and energy efficiency projects, afforestation and plantation programs,
and awareness programs.
3. To promote entrepreneurial culture through skills and capacity development programs
aimed to support the growth of MSME sector, and through initiatives aimed to foster
innovation by engaging with start-ups, students and technological incubators in academic
institutions.
4. To promote education and skills development through initiatives on vocational and
livelihood enhancing skills development programs, and programs aimed to nurture the
talent of children and students in various fields.
5. To support welfare programs for armed forces veterans, war widows and their
dependent children.
6. To support victims of naturalcalamities and other disasters through relief and
rehabilitation programs.

4. KOTAK BANK
(A).Promoting Education:
The Bank and its Subsidiaries’ endeavor to enhance theaccessibility and affordability of
quality education for deserving underserved sections of society. Education will remain

65
the primary CSR focus area for the Group, and the initiatives will focus on providing
infrastructure to schools, scholarships for deserving children and supporting parents and
teachers to provide holistic learning environment for children at school and home. The
education initiatives will be primarily implemented through Kotak Education Foundation
(KEF) and the Bank’s CSR team.

(B). Enhancing vocational skills and livelihood projects:

The Group will work towards imparting vocational skills to deserving children and youth,
women, elderly, and the differently-abled. The programme aims at holistic development
of these children and youth, women, elderly, and the differently-abled through technical
and soft skills and enhances their livelihood opportunities. The vocational skills and
livelihood projects will be primarily implemented through Kotak Education Foundation
(KEF) and the Bank’s CSR team.

(C).Promoting preventive healthcare and sanitation:

The Bank and its subsidiaries’ shall promote preventive health care and sanitation by
providing health checkups for children covered under education initiatives and sensitizing
the children on personal and community health and hygiene. These initiatives will be
implemented through Kotak Education Foundation (KEF). On a case by case basis, the
Bank and its subsidiaries’ will also support various NGOs working in the fields of
healthcare, sanitation, eradication of hunger and malnutrition, and provision of access to
safe drinking water. The Bank and its subsidiaries’ will also conduct periodic blood
donation drives.

(D).Reducing inequalities faced by socially and economically backward groups:

The Bank and its subsidiaries’ shall support NGOs working towards rehabilitating
socially andeconomically backward sections of society by providing safe houses through
community
house building initiatives. The Bank and its subsidiaries shall also work with NGOs

66
working towards promoting gender equality, empowering women, setting up homesand
hostels for women and orphans, setting up old age homes, day care centres and Other
such facilities for senior citizens and measures for reducing inequalities face by socially
and economically backward groups.

(E).Environmental Sustainability:
The Bank and its subsidiaries’ will sponsor for environmental sustainability activities
such as tree plantation either directly or through an external stakeholder / NGO. The
Bank and its subsidiaries shall provide support to NGOs working towards maintaining
ecological balance, protection of flora and fauna, animal welfare, agro forestry,
conservation of natural resources and maintaining quality of soil, air and water

(F). Contribution to Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund:

The Bank and its subsidiaries’ will support relief and rehabilitation activities undertaken
by the Prime Minister’s National ReliefFund in cases of natural calamities and disasters.

5. HDFC BANK
(A) Improving Access
a. Rural Outreach
In 2015-16, the Bank has reached a market spread of 4,520 branches and 12,000 ATMs
across 2,587 cities and towns in India, which is an increase from 4,014 branches and
11,766 ATMs across 2,464 cities in 2014-15. The Bank’s focus on semi-urban and under-
banked markets continued, with 55 per cent of total branches in such areas, an increase
from 52 per cent in the previous year.

67
b. Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY)
PMJDY is the National Mission for Financial Inclusion by ensuring access to financial
services: Banking/ Savings and Deposit Accounts, Remittance, Credit, Insurance and
Pension. In line with the Digital India Initiative and PMJDY, the Bank is making these
basic banking facilities available through Aadhaar and Rupay Card enabled micro-ATMs
(compliant to Unique Identification Authority of India) at every Bank Mitra or Business
Correspondent location. In addition to this, the Bank is also focusing on the “J-A-M”
(Jandhan, Aadhaar, Mobile) trinity, to ensure holistic coverage of customers and provide
easy access through digital channels. This is to ensure Government benefits reach the
end-customer. As on March 31 2016, the Bank
opened 15.8 lakh PMJDY accounts.

c. Agriculture Support
Kisan Gold Card (KGC), one of the Bank’smajor rural projects is aimed at aiding farmers
by providing them with loans for purchase of agricultural equipment, bullocks carts,
besides funding land development and repair expenses. KGC also enables farmers to
meet their expenses towards education, weddings and other occasions. Apart from easing
credit requirements, the Bank also provides free of cost Personal Accident Insurance
cover of ` 2 lakh. An add-on to this, is the Bank’s Kisan Gold Card Tez, which provides
loans to farmers within three days while Kisan Turant enhances the loan amount within
seconds at an ATM or any branch. 2015-16 witnessed the issuance of over 65,000 KGCs
across the nation. The Bank also has an online Kisan Dhan Vikas e-Kendra which
empowers farmers with a Rangeof financial andnon-financial information. Information
on approval of cattle loans, to cards can be accessed. Also available

68
is expert crop advice and information on government schemes in the personalized farmer
webpage which can be viewed in 4 language

(B).Health And Sanitation

a. sanitation
The Bank believes cleanliness and hygiene are of utmost importance in order to create a
positive learning environment for children. In line with the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the
Bank had launched a sanitation project in 2014-15 whose reach has now been enhanced
to over 800 schools across 500 plus villages spread over 8 states. In 2015-16, the focus of
the Intervention has not only been on construction or renovation of sanitation
infrastructure in government schools but also bringing about behavioural change under
the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programme

b. Women healthcare camps

TocommemorateInternationalWomen’sDay, the Bank organized health check-up camps.
This event went beyond employees and was extended to women at the Bottom of the
Pyramid living in many villages across India. Also on this day, the Bank facilitated
enterprising women from these sections to market their products – pots, handlooms,
handicrafts and jewels — at 400 branch locations in 20 states.

c. Blood Donation Camps

2015 marked the 9th year of the annual blood donation drive which was recognized by
‘The Guiness Book Of World Records’ in 2013 as the largest collection of blood on a

69
single day. The Bank had set up blood donation camps at over 2,300 centres in 975
locations across India. Camps were also held in over 800 college campuses. Participation
from college students in the Bank’s blood drive has increased significantly over the last 3
years. In 2015-16, colleges successfully collected over 55,000 units of blood. Apart from
branch and college level camps, the Bank also tied up with Corporate and Defense
establishments to organize camps on their
premises, thus increasing the reach and spread of this social campaign. This year the
drive attracted about 1.75 lakh participants who contributed 1.5 lakh units of blood.

(C).Nurturing Growth
a. Financial Inclusion
The Bank firmly believes that financial literacy is the first step towards financial
inclusion. The potential in India is especially enormous as 40 per cent of the country’s
total population does not have access to formal banking services. The Bank’s financial
literacy initiatives have been incorporated across various business channels to ensure a
trickle down model of financial inclusion. In this regard, the Bank undertakes various
rural financial literacy initiatives across the country wherein camps are conducted to
impart a conceptual understanding of financial products and services. The Bank uses
Financial Literacy guides and posters, as the standard curriculum to educate the target
audience. This material is available in Hindi and English, allowing participants to learn in
the language they are comfortable with. The financial literacy programme is aimed at
improving access to formal banking services in remote cornersof India, encompassing the
general public as well as SME Entrepreneurs. Through this initiative, the Bankhas
reached out to over 55,000 households in over 5,000 villages, each with a population of
less than 2,000. In addition to this, the Bank has set up 9 Financial Literacy Centres in
Kerala, Punjab and Haryana.
These centres conduct activities such as focused group discussions and camps at the
Gram Panchayat, school and rural branches level. In 2015-16, the Bank has extended
financial literacy initiatives to the SMEs in Jammu. Under this initiative, the Bank
conducted financial literacy camps in Pulwama, Rajouri, Kupwara, Poonch and Budgam
districts in the state to bring SMEs into the traditional banking fold.

70
b. Educational Crisis Scholarship Support (ECSS)
The Educational Crisis Scholarship Support (ECSS) programme has been launched with
the objective of empowering students who are economically and socially disadvantaged.
Through this initiative the Bank ensures that students do not have to discontinue their
education due to financial emergencies. It provides assistance to students in recognized
private and government-aided schools between the age group of 13-21 years and has been
able to support 455 students across India in 2015-16.
c. Improving Quality of Education
Improving the quality of education is a key area for the Bank. Pan India, it has reached
out to nearly 60,000 students and 5 lakh teachers through multiple initiatives. The Bank
partnered with Sri Aurobindo Society to train over 5 lakh school teachers in Uttar
Pradesh under the ‘Zero Investment Innovation in Education Initiative’ (ZIIEI). The
training familiarized school teachers with ‘Innovation’ as a concept, while also giving
them a platform to generate new teaching solutions. The teachers came up with 2 lakh
ideas that have the potential to bring about path-breaking changes in education for over 2
crore students in the state. This is expected to result in improved education delivery in
classrooms, leading to reduced drop-out rate. It is also expected to create an enabling
environment for girls and children with special needs. This initiative will enhance the
involvement of teachers, parents and the community in improving quality of education
and facilitate effective implementation of government programmes like the Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan.
Through This programme, nearly 1.7 lakh schools received an ‘Inspection Management
System (IMS)’. HDFC Bank conducts impact assessments to understand the penetration
levels of quality education. To bridge the education gap, the Bank partnered with ‘Teach
for India’ to advocate educational equality in rural areas. The Bank supports this cause by
selecting two employees every year for the fellowship. The selected employees are given
a two-year sabbatical, during which they continue to receive their basic salary while
improving lives of many children. Another initiative the Bank has undertaken is to
enhance the basic understanding of subjects like mathematics, history and science. This is
through a partnership with ‘Meljol’, an NGO and more than 30,000 students across India

71
have been positively impacted. The Bank also regularly undertakes training programmes
on credit counselling and inculcating the savings
habit. Targeted at students, it provides information on asset creation, insurance, and
income generation.During the year almost over 1.4 lakh financial awareness programmes
covering over 22 lakh householdswere conducted.

(D) Creating Sustainable Communities

a. Sustainable Livelihood Initiative
The Sustainable Livelihood Initiative (SLI) provides financial and social empowerment
to the marginalized and weaker sections of society. The Bank has adopted a holistic
approach encompassing financial literacy and credit counselling aimed at enhancing
banking acumen. As a part of this, customized savings products like savings accounts
with facilities like ATM card, cheque book, micro recurring and fixed deposits have
been provided. These help in encouraging banking habits, thus helping customers manage
cash flows better and meet their consumption needs. The Bank also provides training and
capacity building services to enhance skills and supplements it with assistance in market
linkage leading to increased income. Most of the SLI customers are women as the Bank
strongly believes that upliftment of the household starts with financial empowerment of
women. The range of Financial and Non-Financial services provided are as follows:
1. Financial Offerings: a. Enterprise Lending Programme b. Basic Savings Bank Deposit
Accounts c. Micro Recurring and Fixed Deposits d. Micro Insurance
2. Non-Financial Offerings: a. Credit Counselling b. Financial Literacy c. Capacity
Building d. Market Linkages

72
The SLI model provides a direct linkage with people at the Bottom of the Pyramid
through Joint Liability Groups and Self-Help Groups. The Bank engages with groups for
counselling and financial literacy camps, after which it funds them for their income
generating activities.

b. Skills Training and Livelihood Enhancement

For lakhs of youth, acquiring occupational skillsets which help them earn a livelihood
still remains a major challenge. The Bank’s livelihood initiatives are therefore aimed at
training and capacity development of youth and women from economically weaker
sections of society. The support programmes are aimed at providing competency based,
skill-oriented technical and vocational training. With various combinations of initiatives
based on agriculture and allied businesses, the Bank has supported more than 4,000
households and trained more than 500 youth in different trades enabling them to be
entrepreneurs.
In 2015-16, the Bank initiated a pilot programme in skill development - The National
University Students Skill Development Programme in association with the Tata Institute
of Social Sciences. This focuses on increasing employability of university students by
imparting knowledge and skills that make them job ready. The students are trained and
certified in vocational skills to supplement their university graduate degree. The Bank
ensures that minimum 80 per cent of the student’s secure jobs on completion of training.
About 4,200 students have undergone such training.

c. Integrated Rural Development

Integrated Rural Development is a part of the effort to ‘Create Sustainable Communities’.
In this endeavor, the Bank promotes activities that economically empower people while
keeping in mind the socio-economic context and the ecology of the region.
The activities include providing soil and water conservation techniques to villages, water
management practices, renovation and maintenance of water harvesting structures for
improving surface and ground water availability. These activities are carried out in
partnership with the Village Development Committees, ensuring viability and
sustainability of the project.
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As part of the Integrated Rural Development Initiative, HDFC Bank has adopted a cluster
of villages in Mandla District of Madhya Pradesh through a participatory programme. It
initiated a Natural Resource Management Programme through which a thorough needs
assessment of all the villages was conducted, with the support of an NGO partner. The
results highlighted the need for soil and water conservation practices as well as rain water
harvesting structures to improve surface and ground water levels following which the
Bank has developed a detailed plan in consultation with the villagers. Soil and water
conservation work has been initiated in 550 acres of land (covering over 140 farmer
families) with 65 acres brought under irrigation for the first time and 45 acres brought
under assured irrigation. Another initiative in Raigarh, Maharashtra has seen the
provision of an Elevated Storage Reservoir which ensures that every house has a water
connection.
In addition to this, the Bank has also set up street lights and distributed water wheels, a
cylindrical container to carry water across large distances with ease to the villages. This
is an innovation which the Bank is planning to replicate in other parts of the country as
well

d. Disaster Management
During times of natural calamities, the Bank has responded by helping the victims to
access healthcare which is critical in such situations.During the floods in Chennai its
employees donated towards relief efforts. The Bank conducted baseline assessment to
understand the needs of the community in the flood affected areas, based on which relief
operations were carried out.

74
The concept of CSR reporting has been described by different scholars in different
ways.CSR reporting calls for reflection of corporate ethical practices, transparency,
sensitivity to the environment issues, social commitment and labour welfare practices of
business houses. It is observed from Kamayog’s CSR rating that most of the Indian
banks do not mention CSR on their annual reports or on websites.

Level (0-5) No. of banks/fis Name of banks/fis

Level 0 3 City Union Bank, Vysya Bank and Vijay Bank.

Level 1 6 Central Bank of India,Indusind Bank,

Karnataka Bank,Kotak Mahindra Bank, South
Indian Bank & UCO Bank

Level 2 15 Allahabad Bank,Andhra Bank, BOB, Bank

Of India, Bank of Maharashtra Bank,
IDBI bank, Bank of Rajasthan,
Corporation Bank, Federal Bank, HDFC,
Indian overseas, State Bank of Bikaner,
State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Travancore
and Syndicate Bank.

Level 3 11 Axis Bank, Canara Bank, Dena Bank

, ICICI bank, Indian Bank, ING Vysya Bank,
Jammu and Kashmir Bank, Oriental Bank,
Punjab National Bank, SBI and
Union Bank of India.
Level 4 1 Yes Bank

Level 5 Nil Nil

75
The new Companies Bill seeks to make it mandatory for companies of a certain financial
strength to spend at least 2% of their average net profit over three years on corporate
social responsibility.
The Bill, which would replace the nearly six-decade old Companies Act, 1956, was
cleared by the Rajya Sabha on 8 August while it had received the Lok Sabha nod in
December last year. As per the new norms, the two per cent spending on CSR is not
mandatory but reporting about it is mandatory.
In case, a company is unable to spend the required amount, then it has to give an
explanation for the same. The CSR norms, that would come into effect once the President
gives his assent, would be applicable to companies having either net worth of Rs 500
crores or more; turnover of Rs 1,000 crores or more; or net profit of Rs 5 crores or more.
RBI revises bank KYC guidelines, advises new set of norms on July 1 2013
In a bid to strengthen its safeguards against money laundering, the Reserve Bank of India
(RBI) issued the master circular revising certain guidelines related to bank Know Your
Customer (KYC) policy. It suggested creating Unique Customers Identification Code
(UCIC) while bringing changes in new account opening process.
On July 16, 2013, RBI fines 22 banks Rs 50cr for violation of know your customer
which includes SBI, PNB and 20 more lending banks

76
The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility is spreading very rapidly in India in all
the sectors .Corporate Social Responsibility is to contribute towards the society while
working with in ethics.
In developing country like India, banking sector plays a very important role in upgrading
the economy of the country not only by lending money or increasing the liquidity in the
country but also by imposing a new practice called corporate social responsibility
(CSR).RBI played a important role in supporting the concept of CSR by passing a
circular in the year 2007,December, directed banks to undertake CSR initiatives for
sustainable development .
The Banking sector is in a leading position in discharging CSR in the country. “CSR is
the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic
development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as
well as of the local community and society at large”.
The study shows that all the banks in India are focused towards the Social Responsibility
now-adays. As it includes a detailed study on a leading private bank i.e. HDFC Bank and
it shows the different efforts by the different banks as well. Thus we can conclude that
these days the banking industry in India is giving due importance to the Social
Responsibility and they try to cater all the important areas to be focused like health,
education, sanitation, etc. In a nutshell, it can be said that the state of mind of the Indian
entrepreneurs towards CSR is changing due to tough competition in an international
level. Conclusively, there are three suggestive measures which are advisable for a better
CSR in these banks. First is to enhance and accelerate government’s involvement in CSR
activities, Second can be noted as development of a broad sector of the consulting in the
era of CSR, and lastly media should increase its interest and play a vital role in the era of
CSR.

77
 PRIMARY DATA
HDFC BANK

Q1. What is your opinion about CSR?

Ans:At HDFC Bank, Corporate Social Responsibility is all about developing a business
model that not only creates economic value but also contributes to a healthy ecosystem
and strong communities. Our endeavour is to evolve and develop appropriate business
processes and strategies to achieve a common goal which contributes to the greater good.
Q2. What is the amount yourbank send on CSR activities?
Ans: 2% of NET PROFIT
Q3. What are the main areas in which you conduct CSR activites?
Ans: Education, Poverty Eradication, Community Welfare
Q4. What are the programs initiated by your bank?
Ans:• Rural outreach
• Pradhan mantri jan dhan yojna
• Agriculture support
• Women health care camps
• Blood donation camps
• Sanitation
• Education crisis scholarship support
• Improving quality of education
Q5. What are your CSR spending for the last 3 years?
Ans: 2013-14 70.37CR
2014-15 118CR
2015-16 120 CR

78
ICICI BANK

Q1. What is your opinion about CSR?

Ans:CSR has been a long-standing commitment at ICICI Venture and the ICICI Group
and forms an integral part of our activities
Q2. What is the amount yourbanks send on CSR activities?
Ans: 1.8% of NET PROFIT
Q3. What are the main areas in which you conduct CSR activites?
Ans:Education, Poverty Eradication, Community Welfare
Q4. What are the programs initiated by your bank?
Ans:• Caring hand campaign
• Ride to safety
• Action for reducing child under nutrition
• Sarva shiksha abhiyan
• Vidya bhavan
Q5. What are your CSR spending for the last 3 years?
Ans: 2013-14 27.43CR
2014-15 52.33CR
2015-16 74.39CR

79
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF HDFC BANK AND ICICI BANK
HDFC bank mainly focus for CSR initiative in the areas like sustainable livelihood,
education, health and sanitation, skilling, community initiative and environment
protection.

CSR Areas Main CSR Activities

1.Community Welfare 1.Education

2.Education 2. Poverty Eradication

3.Environment 3. Community Welfare

4.Vocational l Training

The programs initiated by HDFC bank in different areas are:-

• Rural outreach
• Pradhan mantri jan dhan yojna
• Agriculture support
• Women health care camps
• Blood donation camps
• Sanitation
• Education crisis scholarship support
• Improving quality of education
HDFC spend 2% of their net profit on the CSR activities

In 2008, ICICI group set up ICICI foundation for inclusive growth which focuses on key
areas like skill development, financial inclusion, education, health care and sustainable
livelihood.

CSR Areas Main CSR Activities

1.Community Welfare 1. Education
2.Disaster Relief 2. Community Welfare
3.Education 3. Poverty Eradication
4.Environment

80
5. Healthcare
6.Poverty Eradication
7. Senior Citizens

The programs initiated by ICICI bank under CSR are:

• Caring hand campaign
• Ride to safety
• Action for reducing child under nutrition
• Sarva shiksha abhiyan
• Vidya bhavan
ICICI spend 1.8 % of their net profit on the CSR activities

Analysis and interpretation

81
Interpretation:
The percentage of profit after tax spend for CSR by HDFC bank is more as compare to
ICICI bank. But the amount spent by both banks on CSR activities is increasing every
year.

82
CASE STUDY
ICICI BANK

In Rajasthan, the bank has facilitated and guided the process of textbook development in
line with the new aims and vision of education set forth in the NCF 2005 and RtE
2009.While English language textbooks for classes VI, VII and VIII have been
introduced across state-run schools for the current 2012-13 academic year, 13 more
textbooks in Social Science, Hindi, English, Environmental Science and Math for classes
I to VIII have been approved for inclusion in the next academic year. These textbooks
will benefit over 7 million students across Rajasthan.

Under the syllabus development exercise ICICI foundation updated Syllabi for Social
Sciences for classes VI, VII and VIII and the syllabi for English, Hindi, Environmental
Studies (EVS) and Maths for classes I to V, at its meeting held on April 30, 2012. On
November 8, 2012 the SSC reviewed the newly written textbooks for Social Science for
classes VI, VII and VII, and for Hindi, Environmental Studies (EVS), and Math for
classes I through V. The Committee has so far approved 13 textbooks which were printed
for teaching in the next academic year. Textbook development for the remaining subjects
for classes II and IV were planned to be taken up in the next academic year.

83
 FINDING AND RECOMMENDATION
 Most of the banks don’t follow the provision of companies’ act 2013 for
spending of CSR that is 2% of net profit
 RBI or Govt. should issue guideline in regarding spending of CSR by banks
 Proper monitoring structure to evaluate the qualitative and quantitative aspects of
CSR implementation will help companies assess the outcomes of CSR and take
proper and corrective action
 More activites should be undertaken in the field of Health & Sanitation , rural
development
 Banks must also provide appropriate training to its employees.

84
CONCLUSION
The study shows that all the banks in India are focused towards the Social Responsibility
now-days. As it includes a detailed study on a leading private bank and it shows the
different efforts by the different banks as well. Thus we can conclude that these days the
banking industry in India is giving due importance to the Social Responsibility and they
try to cater all the important areas to be focused like health, education, sanitation, etc.
In a nutshell, it can be said that the state of mind of towards CSR is changing due to
tough competition in an international level.
Banks like HDFC and ICICI are working to deal with this problem by accelerating their
CSR funds in to financial inclusion activities. But it has also noticed that they are
investing into wide range of other CSR activities like supporting education, health and
gender empowerment

85
 ANNEXURE

Q1. What is your opinion about CSR?

Ans:
Q2. What is the amount yourbank sends on CSR activities?
Ans:
Q3. What are the main areas in which you conduct CSR activites?
Ans:
Q4. What are the programs initiated under each area?
Ans:
Q5. What are your CSR spending for the last 3 years?
Ans:

86
Questionnaire for an employee working in a bank

1. Which one of these banks is your employer?

ICICI BANK

STATE BANK OF INDIA

HDFC BANK

PUNJAB NATIONAL BANK

Other (please specify)

*2. What does corporate social responsibility mean to you? Please give details

*3. Does your employer have a CSR report?

Yes

No

*4. How well do you know your employer's CSR report?

Very well

On the surface

Poorly

Not at all

*5. Do you know of any economic, environmental or social projects which your
employer is engaged in?
No

96
 yes

*6. Have you ever participated directly or indirectly in any CSR activities initiated
by your employer?
No

Yes

*7. How often do you consider CSR issues such as paper usage in your work
routine?
Daily

Weekly

Monthly

Annually

Never

*8. How important is CSR to the bank's image and integrity?

Extremely important

Very important

Moderately important

Slightly important

Not at all important

*9. Has your employer received any recognition for their CSR activities?
No

Yes

96
*10. Overall, do you think your employer's CSR actitivies are satisfactory?
Yes

Slightly satisfactory

Not really

Neither

No, not at all

Further comments

96
 Questionnaire for a customer
1) What is your gender?

a) Male b) female

2) Which of the following categories best describe your age?

a) Below 18 b) 18-24

c) 25-30 d) 31-35

e) 36 and above

3) How long have you been the customer of Bank?

a) Less than 6months b) 7-12months

c) 1-2 yrs d) 3-5 yrs.

e) More than 5 yrs

4) Are you familiar with the term (CSR) “corporate social responsibility?”

a) Yes b) I´ve heard, but the real notion of it is

still unclear c) No

5) How familiar are you with the responsible activities of your bank?

a) Very familiar b) Familiar

c) Not so (much) familiar d) Unfamiliar

6) Which of the following one is the most important for you?

a) Online banking b) Company doing charity

c) Environmental protection

7) Have you ever read a CSR report with the objective of deciding whether to use or not
to use banks service based on the information contained in it?

a) Yes b) No

8) An organization that focuses on customer centric initiatives is acting with

responsibility towards its stakeholders?

96
a) Agree b) Slightly agree

c) Neutral d) Slightly disagree

e) Disagree f) Unsure

10) Among the following actions, I consider that the important attribute is

a) Meeting the legal obligations b) Actively participating in the

community c) Developing practical
solutions in the organization, on the environment management level d) Developing
solutions for (betterment of) improving customer service.

11) When making the decision to buy a service how important is it to you that it is from
a company committed to the environmental and social issues?

a) It is the most important thing b) Very important

c) Important d) Nice to know

but does not make a difference e) Not important

at all

12) Do you think it is important for corporations to understand the satisfaction factor
within which they operate and contribute positively to it?

a) To a minor extent b) To some extent

c) To a major extent d) Not at all

13) A high CSR rating for a corporation will make a positive impression on me?

a) Yes b) No

c) To a certain extent d) Not too sure

14) Whom do you think bank should mainly focus on?

a) Custome r b) Shareholders

c) Employees d) Government

e) Environment

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15) How would you rate the overall level of your satisfaction with the bank?

a) Highly satisfied b) Somewhat

satisfied

c) Neutral d) Somewhat
dissatisfied e) Highly dissatisfied

16) Here you can write your own comments:

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DATA ENTERPRETATION FROM EMPLOYEES

 About 40%-50% employees have knowledge of the csr activities conducted by

their banks.
 According to 80% employee’s csr should be widely practiced and is an important
aspect.
 At least 20% employees are unaware of the csr importance and duty .
 45% of employees answered that the employer has not received any recognition
for his csr activities or are unaware about it.
 More that 75% employees say that the csr activities are not discussed by the
organization hence they have no knowledge about it.
 95% employees say that they would love to be part of any csr activities that the
organization may undertake.
 60% employees kept profit maximization as the main motive of the bank and
secondly csr.
 Senior CSR manager 1, Female, was quite clear on the value of CSR from a
marketing perspective: ‘The bank has the opportunity for publicity when it does
CSR. We ] can tell a lot of life-changing stories about communities that have
benefited from CSR programmes making our firm known. This means publicity
without paying, even though it is not the primary CSR intention. In the course of
adding value to the communities, we also get them to use our bank products,
which means more business for the bank. We get a good reputation for our
organization.’
 Project 1’s employee 3, female, stated: ‘Looking at the value chain – if I go into
an organization as an employee I will like to know what they do for CSR. Value
creation comes into the CSR value chain perfectly with the service since we are
delivering service to the community.’
 Employee 3, male, said: ‘CSR is the backbone of an organization; it cuts across
all these processes.’
 Project 2’s employee 2, female, said: ‘I think CSR initiatives by an organization
give value everywhere.’
 A senior manager in the organization said that –“we have added value mostly in
the operations space of the bank because we operationally worked with the
community as bank employees showing our bank’s willingness to help.”

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DATA ENTERPRETATION FROM CUSTOMERS

 It was observed that 55% of the customers were unaware of the csr
activities done by their banks.
 About 40% of them have even participated as volunteers to different
activities like providing teaching in rural areas, blood donation
campaigns, visiting orphanages, donations etc.
 Due to lack of information and communication gap banks and
consumers were unaware about the activities conducted by bank.
 After some communication with the bank officials it was observed
that there was a lot of youth participation for the activities conducted
by bank.
 An official said that “We wish to inculcate good values among the
youth to inspire them to work further for the society”
 One customer said “the main idea or motive to visit a bank always
arises for financial purposes and not for any inquiry of csr activities.
 Project 2 official said “in my 13 years of working with this bank I
have never seen any customer coming to gain knowledge or
participate in the csr activities we undertake “ . He concluded saying
that” it’s a busy world now”.

96
 BIBLOGRAPH
1. CSR Practices & CSR Reporting in Indian BankingSector: Namrata Singh, Rajlaxmi
Srivastava, Rajni Rastogi

2.Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives of Indian Banking Sector: Vijay .P and
Divya N

3.Corporate Social Responsibility: A Study of Selected Public Sector Banks in India: Sarita
Moharana
4. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN INDIAN BANKING INDUSTRY: STUDY
ON ATTEMPTS OF HDFC BANK: Nidhi

5. CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: AN ANALYSIS OF INDIAN COMMERCIAL

BANKS: Eliza Sharma and Dr. Mukta Mani

96
6. https://myassignmenthelp.com/blog/corporate-social-responsibility-advantages-disadvantages/

7. http://ijmcr.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Paper8440-446.pdf \

8. https://blogs.economictimes.indiatimes.com/ResponsibleFuture/csr-what-the-banking-industry-
should-really-focus-on/

96