Business Ethics & Philanthropy

There has been a radical expansion in the role of the private sector in the social and environmental development sectors. The private sector is moving well ahead of governments on key issues such as carbon emissions, gender parity, green supply chains and diversity and inclusion. Organisations across the world are taking action and developing CSR...

Bollywood actress Jacqueline Fernandez recently visited Aluva in Kochi and interacted with the families affected by floods. She was in Kerala as part of the NGO Habitat for Humanity India’s campaign to support flood victims. The campaign - Jacqueline Builds - aims to construct 500 disaster-resistant houses for the flood-affected in Kerala. Jacqueline also visited...

Technological development is advancing at a rapid pace. Along with it, the unresolved problems ranging from data privacy abuse to fake news misinformation, mental health concerns to AI-induced job losses, are also on the rise. This is why ethics in tech is expected to remain a massive global topic in 2019. Technology has infiltrated every...

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has lauded retired cricketer Gautam Gambhir for his contribution to the sport as well for his efforts to bring “positive difference in the lives of the lesser privileged”. Gambhir sponsoring the education of 50 children of CRPF personnel killed in action; bearing the education expenses of Zohra, daughter of a Kashmir...

Club Mahindra launched an annual initiative - Mission S.M.I.L.E.S. (Social Movement to Improve Life Experiences) under its Employee Social Options Program (ESOP). As part of this all Club Mahindra employees pledged to cumulatively devote 5000 hours annually in Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives focusing on education, health and environment. To begin with, 180 employees and Club...

The past year has seen much of the global business community doing damage control, and tech titans—untouchable as they may seem—have not been immune to the reputation crisis. While Apple and Facebook, still reeling in the wake of a string of scandals, have seen their brands tarnished, Google appears to have stayed above the...

It is not so difficult to install business ethics when the business is flourishing. It gets difficult to hold on to ethics when the business is facing a downfall. It is during times like these when companies take reckless decisions. The hard time in business causes executives to become insecure making them hold off...

By Shreya Deb, Maddie Holland and Sonam Agrawal Poverty in India is changing. Since independence, while India has made progress in reducing its overall poverty rate, urban poverty has increased, driven primarily by people migrating to cities from rural areas in search of opportunity. Between 1973 and 2004, the share of India’s urban poor increased...

By Rajeev Nair (Principal Associate) & Nishant Sogani (Associate), Rajani Associates Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in India is governed by the Companies Act, 2013 (Act) under Section 135 which mandates every company having (i) net worth of INR 500 crore or more, or (ii) turnover of INR 1,000 crore or more, or (iii) a net profit of INR...

According to the International Labour Organisation, about 24.9 million people are victims of forced labour. Of them, 16 million are employed by the private sector. The large scale of exploitation has prompted governments across the world to introduce legislation that will bring more transparency in the supply chains of big companies. Greater public disclosure of...

As SBTs (Science Based Targets) become the new norm for corporate sustainability, embracing of renewables and integration of energy efficiency is spurring new innovations, even as carbon pricing is being adopted as a mechanism to hedge future climate risk. Vendor selection based on climate mitigation actions IndusInd Bank prefers vendors that demonstrate some climate change mitigation...

India is among the largest consumers of tea in the world. It represents 19% of the global tea market. Tea is part of every social gathering in the country. However, the price we pay to have that tea is often overlooked by many. Assam is the tea-growing state of India. The tea industry is mostly...