Making CSR more sustainable

Business entities professing and working for the public good are not uncommon, even in India. From the time modern form of business started in India back in the 19th century, Indian business houses like the Tatas, Birlas, Singhanias and the Godrej have been practising philanthropy by spending a part of their profits for social and religious causes. Later on in the 20th century, even Gandhi highlighted the moral virtues embedded in the social activities of business houses, “I desire to end capitalism almost, if not quite, as much as the most advanced socialist. But our methods differ. My theory of trusteeship is no make-shift, certainly no camouflage. I am confident that it will survive all other theories.”

However, despite some remarkable achievements in philanthropy by Indian corporations, the movement never took off holistically. That was because business interest was never integrated to the activities of philanthropy. Even in the ‘era of command and control’, from the post independence time till the 1980s, when government policy was set to encourage public sector entities as drivers of economic growth, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities were never enough and held little importance to the company's business policies. Although, certain laws were laid down by the government for CSR, the lack of business needs to adhere to such statutes ensured that CSR activities were done halfheartedly. Companies looked to exploiting every opportunity available to bypass the laws and find loopholes. In any case, during this time CSR was evolving as a modern business practice in the global context and was still at the nascent stage. It was from the 1990s onward that CSR became an essential component of business mechanism in the developed world. But even then, Indian companies' CSR activities could never catch up with their European and American counterparts and were left behind.

Since the need for CSR activities is related to public perception about the company and helps it to differentiate itself in the market place, it is very much related to the societal culture in the geographical domain it serves. The higher level of public consciousness in  western countries towards society and environment as a criterion for sustainability is the prime cause that set up the trend for CSR activities by corporations in those nations. In India, by contrast public perception towards a company is shaped little by social and environmental factors and in most cases people are not even aware of its need for sustainability. Thus, Indian companies find little incentive to include CSR in their business policy and it is seen more as an unnecessary expense rather than an imperative.      

Nonetheless, it is not a blank sheet either for the Indian CSR landscape. The Tata Group and the Aditya Birla Group have been engaged in CSR activities for a long time and recently they have integrated it into their business strategy. Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation and some other public sector enterprises have been engaged in improving medical and sanitation facilities, building houses and schools and empowering the rural population. Indian conglomerates like Hindustan Unilever and Maruti Suzuki India, too, are involved in similar kinds of social activities like imparting vocational training to villagers and making them self-reliant apart from improving their standard of living.
It is difficult to ascertain the corporate world's reason for public apathy on social and environmental causes. It is as much a responsibility for business entities as it is for the government. One way explaining it can be done with Maslow’s hierarchical pyramid, where an individual or a group moves step by step from the lower-order needs to the higher. Since, the lower needs such as the basic needs for sustenance are not satisfied for many in India, it is difficult to expect public consciousness over higher order needs like environment or social causes. In a situation like this, government should levy at least some moderate level laws to compel organizations operating in India to incorporate a sustainability plan in the form of CSR in their business activities.