Business Ethics & Philanthropy

Union Railway Minister Suresh said, being fair in any business is the key to maintaining equality and a better business culture. He was speaking as the chief guest at the 29th Council for Fair Business Practices (CFBP) Jamnalal Bajaj Awards. Prabhu pointed out inequality and the gap between haves and have-nots as the root causes...

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) rules, implemented in April 2014 under section 135 of the Companies Act, have generated a buzz for their innovative approach to social development, and helping channel funds from companies towards such activities. But even as annual CSR spend is on the rise, the impact on the ground and effective deployment of...

Nepalese government will soon start implementing the provision of newly introduced Industrial Enterprise Act that the industries need to allocate at least 1% of their annual profit for social welfare. Clause 48 per the Industrial Enterprise Act 2016 states, big or medium scale enterprises as well as small enterprises having annual turnover over 150 million...

Founder and Chairman of HCL Ltd, Shiv Nadar (71) emerged as the ‘Most generous Indian’ with donation of Rs 630 crore towards education, according to the Hurun India Philanthropy List 2016. The list was released today by The Hurun Research Institute. None of the top three philanthropists of last year made it to the top...

A village in Barmer district of Rajasthan, lit up by solar lights about two years ago when an oil company set up a solar power plant, is back to darkness. The Cairn India set up the solar plant, lighting up 100 houses of Meghwalon Ki Dhani village under Rawatsar panchayat, about 20km from the Barmer...

Nearly 400 companies together shelled out about Rs 5,857 crore towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in two years, Parliament was informed on Tuesday. Under the Companies Act, 2013, a certain class of profitable companies is required to spend at least two per cent of their three-year annual average net profit towards CSR works in a financial year. The norm came into effect on April 1, 2014. An...

The first bilateral forum to address sustainability issues at the trade and investment between India and Netherlands was launched in New Delhi on Wednesday. It aimed to help Indian businesses in a big way as growing demands and regulations of sustainable practices in international trade aligned with SDGs, are affecting many Indian businesses having...

Union finance minister Arun Jaitley has called for strict discipline and an arm's-length between corporate proposals and spending on corporate social responsibility (CSR) to ensure that companies are not supporting "their own proposals" from this sphere. Delivering the keynote address at an award function at the HCL office in Noida's Sector 126 on Tuesday, Jaitley said the idea of CSR...

Nanma Maram is an initiative based in Cochin to feed the hungry homeless. The Street Store is a global pop-up store for the poor homeless people to fetch some clothes and footwear for free. Another initiative called Roti Bank provides food to elderly and homeless after collecting them from different sources. The thought behind...

Three years since the Companies Act, which enabled essential reforms in governance, transparency and accountability – the landscape of Indian development sector is changing. Many corporate organisations falling under the ambit of the CSR law have taken the necessary steps to adhere to the guidelines. The potential investment in CSR from Indian Inc annually...

More companies are now spending more in corporate social responsibility (CSR) and top 100 listed companies have seen a jump of about 25% in their spending in last year, according to a research by IiAS. Overall spends of S&P BSE 100 companies increased 25% to Rs.65.5bn, or 1.7% of their three-year average profits. The largest...

The National CSR conclave was recently inaugurated in Ahmedabad. During the function experts called for companies to focus on the social outcomes of their respective CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiatives. Expert stakeholders were of the opinion that most companies still consider the mandatory 2% CSR spending to be a burden and therefore, their focus...