A study on the evolution of the regulatory framework on csr linking to various amendments in the companies act 2013

The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has gained increased significance in recent years. The growing focus on CSR has changed the attitude of businesses all over the world, and India is not an exception. The concept of CSR is not new to India; historically speaking, social responsibility of companies is a well-established phenomenon in India, and the country has one of the world's richest traditions of CSR. In its oldest forms, CSR in India included the concept of corporate philanthropy and the Gandhian Trusteeship model (Ghosh S, 1989). But the liberalization of the Indian economy in the 1990s led to a fundamental shift from the philanthropy-based model to a multi-stakeholder approach whereby companies are deemed responsible for all stakeholders, including financial stakeholders, employees and the community (Seema G Sharma, 2009).Our paper has studied how the regulatory framework on CSR has evolved over time both globally and in Indian context with special emphasis to India. The various amendments to the regulatory framework on CSR in the Companies Act 2013 have been covered to understand the legal position and how the law has been evolving with the social changes in the country. The methodology has followed both quantitative as well as qualitative study. There has been analysis of data from secondary sources and literature review of relevant papers and articles. The study has also gathered data of various recent amendments by the Government of India through press release and from online platforms. It has also reviewed papers and publications both qualitatively and quantitatively on CSR activities along with the expenditure pattern for CSR. The study concludes that the legal framework on CSR has evolved strongly in India and various amendments from time to time has strengthened the law which has made the corporates more binding from operations and governance perspective. It is also concluded that the regulatory framework would be effective only if the stakeholders and specially the corporates are serious towards larger contribution of social good in the developmental agenda.