Corporate social responsibility: The new reality of Indian business houses Deshwal Parul Assistant Professor, Dept of Business Administration, Maharaja Surajmal Institute, C-4, Janak Puri, New Delhi, India. E-mail: deshewal.parul@gmail.com Online published on 20 February, 2014. Abstract The Sanskrit saying ‘Atithi Devo Bhav’, means- ‘the one who comes to you for being served, should be taken to be as God’, is considered as highest order of responsibility, be it to individuals or to the society. Thus, the phrase Social Responsibility has its roots in Indian Context. Starting from the times of barter system to today's modern era of plastic money, the mankind has trodden a remarkably long path. Undoubtedly “profitability” has always been the driving force and an undercurrent behind all this development; but as we know that every coin has two facets; growing cut throat competition and business rivalries started taking heavy toll on the quality, transparency, environment and the society in general endangering the peaceful coexistence of business and society. This realization resulted into the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The importance of CSR emerged significantly in the last decade. In India CSR is in a very much budding stage. This paper focuses on the finding & reviewing of the issues and challenges faced by CSR activities in India. The author has tried to sketch out the Myths and Facts of CSR. This paper is also concluded with expected role of Government and NGOs with the hands of Corporate Affairs Ministry. Top Keywords Corporate social responsibility, competitiveness, Corporate citizenship, Societal Marketing, Innovations. Top |