Corporate Social Responsibility in India

The external environment of business has undergone revolutionary changes which generated far-reaching impact on organizational performance and their management strategies. With globalization and liberalization of economy, issues like the changing desires and attitudes of customers, the requirement of government agencies, rapidly advancing technology, increasing cost of production, increased awareness towards environmental protection and sustainable development, rapidly changing political scenario, have emerged as issues of importance which corporate sector cannot ignore. These issues affect the organizations and management intensively. The philosophy of 'Bottom of the Pyramid' advocated by Management Guru late Prof. C.K. Prahlad gained momentum in the context of changed business environment and social responsiveness of corporate houses. Milton Friedman viewed that business should produce goods and services efficiently and leave the solution of social problems to government, concerned organizations and individuals. However, Keith Davis is of the view that there is an iron law of responsibility which states that in the long-run those who do not use power in a manner that society considers responsible will tend to lose it. Thus, it was advocated by the management experts that business organizations must devote resources to socially desirable objectives besides making profits to maintain the confidence and support of its stakeholders and creditors. CSR can generate values and create opportunities for corporate houses for enhancing their business performance and building strongly relations with the stakeholders and community. Against this backdrop, present paper purports to examine the growth and development of CSR in India.