Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has catalysed billions of rupees toward social causes, yet pockets of India remain untouched and unmet needs persist.
The CSR Landscape
- Legal Mandate: Companies spending less than 2% of net profit face penalties, ensuring a baseline of funding.
- Preferred Themes: Education, health, and sanitation dominate, driven by quantifiable outcomes and media appeal.
Gap Areas
- Invisible Populations: Tribal hamlets, LGBTQ+ youth, and women with disabilities are often sidelined.
- Long‐Term Engagement: Many CSR projects last one or two years, undermining sustainability.
- Local Partnerships: Corporates sometimes bypass grassroots NGOs for easier-to-manage partners, missing genuine community insights.
Strengthening CSR Impact
- Needs Assessment: Ground‐level surveys to identify unaddressed issues before project design.
- Multi‐Year Commitments: Ensuring program continuity for behavior change and systemic improvements.
- Co‐Creation: Involving community representatives and local NGOs from day one.
- Transparent Reporting: Public dashboards and independent evaluations to build stakeholder trust.
When corporations invest beyond visibility—into genuine dialogue and local expertise—CSR can become a driving force for equitable, lasting change.
