MAKING CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY MANDATORY IN INDIA - PROSPECTS AND PROBLEMS

With the new companies Act, 2013 specifying the legislative provisions for making CSR mandatory, India becomes the first country to take this move. Though, the concept of corporate social responsibility is much talked about over nearly seven decades, there is lack of clarity in terms of both its definition and implementation. This subjectivity about CSR and absence of legal backing leads to ambiguity which raises a lot of unanswered questions. India by making CSR mandatory attempts to resolve these subjectivities by clarifying how much to spend, who has to spend and where to spend for CSR. This being a pioneering move will be bundled with lot of repercussions. Thus, this paper attempts to throw some light on the problems and prospects of making CSR mandatory in India