SCR in India While a lot of initiatives have been taken in the recent years, CSR in India is in a nascent stage,

though its roots can be traced back to the companies like Tata and Birla. It is still one of the least understood initiatives in the Indian development sector. It is followed by a handful of public companies as dictated by the very basis of their existence, and by a few private companies, with international shareholding as this is the practice followed by them in their respective foreign country. Now, nearly all leading corporate in India are involved in corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs in areas like education, health, livelihood creation, skill development, and empowerment of weaker sections of the society. CSR in India can be divided into 4 phases 1. First Phase (Pre-industrial, before 1800) 2. Second Phase (british rule, 1858-1960)- CSR undertaken by foreign companies and comprised mainly of donations. The national companies like Tata and Birla group took initiatives in the CSR domain to benefit the society directly. 3. Third Phase( 1960-1980) - CSR was mainly characterized by legal regulation of business activities and/or promotion of public-sector undertakings. However CSR approach did not materialize at that time 4. Fourth Stage ( 1980 present ) The CSR activities in India got a phillip when CII launched a new initiative named Desirable Corporate Governance: A Code in April 1988. Recently in Feb 2011, a committee on finance headed by former finance minister Yashwant Sinha has proposed that companies with a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore or net profit of Rs 5 crore or more earmark 2% of their net profit for the preceding three years on CSR. I n 2009 the government made it mandatory for all public sector oil companies to spend 2 per cent of their net profits on corporate social responsibility. Besides the private sector, the government is also ensuring that the public sector companies participate actively in CSR initiatives. The Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) has prepared guidelines for central public sector enterprises to take up important corporate social responsibility projects to be funded by 2-5 per cent of the company's net profits. The central government is working on a framework for quantifying the CSR initiatives of companies to promote them further. The government is developing a mechanism of CSR credits in line with the carbon credits to exchanged within the companies. The Indian environment holds a number of examples illustrating the CSR activities taken in the recent times. Some of the examples are:Issue Community Development Corporate giving Health Gender equality Labour standards Human capital Company Hindalco Indian Oil Corporation Larsen and Toubro NTPC ITC Infosys

Environmental management Energy conservation Water conservation

BHEL Reliance Hindustan Sanitaryware

However the companies implementing the CSR activities in India face a lot of difficulties in context to the Indian environment. Some of the challenged faced by the companies are:1. Lack of community participation in CSR activities- This can be largely attributed to the fact that there exists very little knowledge about the CSR activities within the local communities. There is a lack of interest in the CSR activities by the local community. This is mainly attributed to the fact that there exists little communication between the company and the community stakeholders. 2. Transparency:- There is lack of transparency amongst the local agencies responsible for implementing the programmes impact assessment and utilisation of funds. Lack of transparency affects the trust building between the company and the stakeholders. 3. Narrow Perception:- Non-governmental organisations and Government agencies possess a narrow outlook towards the CSR initiatives, and define the CSR initiatives as donor-driven than local in approach. Hence, they find it hard to decide whether they should participate in such activities 4. Local Capacities:- As there is a dearth of local executing organizations which compromises the scaling up of the CSR intiatives. There is a need of building capabilities of these NGOs that can execute these CSR activities. 5. Lack of Consensus:- There lacks a consensus amongst local agencies regarding CSR projects. This results in duplication of activities by corporates in areas of their intervention. The result is a competitive spirit between local implementing agencies rather than building collaborative approaches on issues. This limits the company s abilities to undertake impact assessment of their initiatives 6. lack of Visibility:- The impact of gaining visibility and branding exercise often leads many non-governmental organisations to involve themselves in event-based programmes. This promotes the corporates to take part in the CSR activities. 7. Non-availability of Clear CSR Guidelines: There are no clear cut statutory guidelines or policy directives to give a definitive direction to CSR initiatives of companies. The scale of CSR initiatives of companies depends upon their business size and profile. In other words, the bigger the company, the bigger is its CSR program

CSR by PowerGrid CSR initiatives are new to the powergrid corporation. The company looks for addressing the issue of Community Development in the neighbourhood areas around its Office/Sub-Stations where the Resettlement and Rehabilitation (R&R) activities under Environmental and Social Policy & Procedure (ESPP) have been completed and closed. It also addresses the Socio-Economic issues at National level like employment, culture, conservation and environment etc. The company allocated 1% of previous PAT towards the CSR activities. However the allocation of funds depends upon the need and the requirment of POWERGRID Region/ Substation/ Site Office, Corporate Centre and provision for the national calamity in the respective year. A portion of around 10% of total funds will be kept un-allocated to meet expenditure towards National Calamities affected areas The company basically looks for CSR into the following areas:a. Rural Development / Infrastructure b. Education c. Health d. Environment e. Sports, Art and Cultural Heritage f. Community Welfare / Promotion of Livelihood

g. Disaster relief The CSR activities of the company span the following 9 regions in which the company has the operations. NR-1 NR-2 WR-1 WR-2 SR-1 SR-2 ER-1 ER-2 NER CC Expenditure on CSR by region:-

2010-11
13%

5% 8%

NR 2 WR 1 WR 2 SR 1 SR 2

24% 13%

ER 1 ER 2 NER 22%

Education Of all the CSR initiatives undertaken the education is considered to be one of the most important aspect in the CSR program. Powergrid looks at CSR in education to fulfill the following obejectives:y To facilitate in skill development/vocational training and other similar improve the skills and employability of the people. initiatives to

y y y

Supplying of study material like bags, books, stationary, study material etc. to needy children. To improve quality of elementary education by adopting school/vocational/ITI institutes etc. Tie-up with technical institutes like ITI for infrastructural development, curriculum up-gradation and skill development of teachers to ensure availability of skilled manpower for industry and greater employability of students.

Some of the means of promoting education in the areas are:1. 2. 3. 4. Infrastructure like Classrooms, furnitures etc Lab equipments Direct Scholarships. Specialized coaching

Powergrid looks at providing infrastructure capabilities at the schools at the rural areas to promote the attendance amongst the students. This helps in facilitating the learning and development of the students.

5% 6% 0%

4% NR 1

Powergrid partners with NGOs like Sawera to promote education in the weaker sections of the society.

Infrastructure Powergrid implements CSR activities in the field of infrastructural development with the following objectives in mind:y To augment basic infrastructure facilities like building community centre, panchayat ghar, water drains, tube wells, ponds, drinking water roads etc. as per the needs and aspirations of local inhabitants based on survey if required by the POWERGRID. To facilitate in creation/up-gradation of primary health centre/education institute i.e school, library, play ground etc. in partnership with the external agencies and the local community. Priority may be given to those schools / primary health centres which are operating but do not have facilities like building, equipments etc.