A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CSR PRACTICES OF SELECTED BANKS IN INDIA

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1 A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CSR PRACTICES OF SELECTED BANKS IN INDIA SHANA SHIMIN P. SHAMEEMA V. Research Scholars Department of Commerce and Centre of Research, PSMO College, Tirurangadi ABSTRACT Recently Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been assuming greater importance in the corporate world including financial institutions and banking sector. CSR is the mechanism through which corporate organizations have executed their philanthropic visions for social welfare. The concept of CSR is spreading very rapidly in India in all the sectors especially in the banking sector. RBI played an important role in supporting the concept of CSR by passing a circular in the year 2007, directed bank to undertake CSR initiatives for sustainable development. Now a days, many banks in India have created their individual brand image in the field of CSR by taking various social initiatives in the era of social welfare and community development. As per the new Companies Act 2013, profitable companies will have to spend at least 2% of their average net profit over the preceding three financial years on CSR activities.this paper deals with the CSR practices followed by the selected public and private sector banks in India. An attempt also has been made to find out the percentage of net profit contributed towards CSR activities and whether the banks have met the mandatory requirement of 2 % of profit on CSR. Key words: CSR activities, banking sector, profit INTRODUCTION Over the past decade, Corporate Social Responsibility has risen in global prominence and importance. The CSR concept was first explained in 1953 in the publication of social responsibilities of businessman by William J. Bowen, however this concept became popular in the 1990s.With the start of 21 st century in India, the term CSR has been coming to the forefront for discussion. In present time, Corporate Social Responsibility has emerged as a significant feature of business philosophy, displaying the impact of business on society in the context of sustainable development. The new and focused perspective on CSR reflects on the responsibility towards all stakeholders: suppliers, employees, government, shareholders, creditors and community rather than only on maximisation of profit for shareholders. CSR is a continuing commitment by business to behave ethically and contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the local community and society at large. CSR IN INDIAN CONTEXT India has the world s richest tradition of Corporate Social Responsibility. Though the term CSR is comparatively new, the concept itself dates back to over a hundred years. CSR in India has evolved through different phases like community engagement, socially responsible production and socially responsible employee relations. Its history and evolution can be divided into four major phases. 64

2 PHASES OF CSR IN INDIA PHASE 1 ( ) Purely philanthropy and charity during industrialisation; corporation is only responsible to owners and managers. PHASE 2 ( CSR as social development during the Independence struggle; corporation is responsible to owners, managers and employees. PHASE 3 ( ) CSR under the mixed economy paradigm ; corporation is responsible to owners, managers and other target environments. PHASE 4 (1980 ONWARDS) CSR in a globalised world is in a confused state; corporation is responsible to owners, managers, other target environments and the public at large. CSR IN INDIAN BANKING SECTOR Now-a-days the contribution of financial institutions including banks to the sustainable development of India is paramount considering the crucial role they play in financing the economic and development activities of the country. To highlight the role of banks in CSR, the RBI circulated a notice on December 20, 2007 for all the scheduled commercial banks in India. The circular directed Indian banks to undertake CSR initiatives for sustainable development and also asked banks to begin non-financial reporting which is related to activities in the era of environmental, social and economic accounting. It has been observed from karmayog s CSR ratings that most of the Indian public sector banks do not mention recent CSR activities on their annual reports or on the websites. The financial institutions do not take adequate steps for updating the recent activities in CSR. Recently financial institutions adopted an integrated approach between customer satisfaction and CSR in a broader way. RBI also instructs the banks to integrate their business operation along with social and environmental aspects. The areas of CSR include children welfare, community welfare, education, environment, healthcare, poverty eradication, rural development, vocational training, women empowerment, protection to girl child and employment. KEY AREAS OF CSR IN INDIAN BANKING SECTOR Education Donation Health Skill training & livilihood enhancement Key areas of CSR Rural devolopment Poverty eradication Environment sustainability 65

3 REVIEW OF LITERATURE Sanjeev K.Sharma (2016) 1 analysed the CSR activities carried out by selected public and private sector banks in India. He found that the selected banks are directly engaged in CSR activities mostly in the area of rural development, education, community welfare etc. The analysis revealed that these banks are making efforts for the implementation of CSR but are not spending their 2% share of profits on CSR. Dr.mamtha sharma,ms.upasana Thakur(2016) 2 examined CSR initiatives of SBI and HDFC bank. The authors aimed to provide useful in sighs to other banks in taking up the CSR such as resource allocation and future action plans towards making a better society. He concluded that both the banks are undertaking CSR initiatives but still they need to do a lot in this area Dr.G.Sankaravadivoo(2015) 3 this paper deals with theoretical aspects of corporate responsibility. He assessed different dimensions of CSR by analysing the present status and CSR practices of various banks. The study was carried among four banks. The study concluded that public sector banks have highest contribution in CSR activities and private sector banks are still lagging in the same area. Sarita Moharana(2013) 4 made An attempt has been made to analyse the existing CSR practices of five nationalized banks. He found that the concept of CSR has failed to some extent to take deep root in India because of lack of coordination between the banks, government, and non-government organizational efforts. He put forward three suggestive measures which are advisable for a better CSR in these banks like enhancing and accelerating the government s involvement in CSR activities, development of a broad sector of the consulting in the era of CSR, and increasing the role of media in the era of CSR STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The Banking sector is considered as one of the most regulated and compliance-friendly sectors in today s business world. In a developing country like India, banking sector plays a very important role in upgrading the economy of the country not only by lending money or by increasing the liquidity in the country but also by spending money as part of corporate social responsibility. The RBI has played an important role in promoting the CSR activities of the banks by passing a Circular in the year 2007, directing banks to undertake CSR initiatives for sustainable development. Recently the new Companies Act,2013 requires the banks to spent at least 2% of their preceding three years average annual net profits towards CSR activities. In this perspective, the following study is undertaken to evaluate the CSR spending of Indian banks and whether the banks has met the mandatory requirement of 2 % of profit on CSR. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY 1. To familiarise the CSR practices followed by the selected public and private sector banks in India. 2. To compare the CSR spending of selected public and private sector banks in India. 3. To examine whether the banks has met the mandatory requirement of 2 % of profit on CSR. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY The study is descriptive in nature. The present study covers leading public and private sector banks in India. SBI was selected from the public sector and ICICI bank was selected from the private sector. The secondary data has been collected from different sources like scholarly articles, annual reports of the selected banks, business responsibility report of selected banks, newsletters and various web sites. CSR INITIATIVES OF SELECTED BANKS STATE BANK OF INDIA Supporting education Supporting healthcare Assistance to poor & underprivileged Environment protection Entrepreneur development programme Assistance during natural calamities like floods/droughts etc. ICICI BANK Education Health care Skill development and sustainable livelihoods Financial inclusion Support employee engagement in CSR activities Capacity building for corporate social responsibility other areas Source: Annual reports and Business Responsibility Reports of selected banks 66

4 CSR SPENDING OF THE BANKS FOR THE LAST 4YEARS STATE BANK OF INDIA Table.1 Year Average PAT for the last 3 years ( Actual CSR spent( % of actual CSR spent 2% CSR requirement ( Difference of CSR spent ( % of difference In CSR Source: Annual reports and Business Responsibility Reports of selected banks Table.1 shows the amount spend by SBI towards CSR for the last 4 years. In the year bank spent Rs123.27cr towards CSR even though the mandatory requirement was Rs194.26cr. In the year , the actual CSR spent by the bank increased to Rs148.93cr, but they could not fulfil the 2% CSR requirement as per the Companies Act. In the year , the actual percentage of CSR spent decreased from 1.3% to 0.95%, even though their average net profit for the last 3 years increased from Rs11359cr to Rs12234cr. In the year , the percentage of actual CSR spent by bank increased to 1.13%, but still there is a difference of 0.87% to meet the mandatory requirement. ICICI BANK Table.2 Year Average PAT for the last 3 years ( Actual CSR spent( % of actual CSR spent 2% CSR requirement( Difference of CSR spent ( % of difference In CSR Source: Annual reports and Business Responsibility Reports of selected bank Table.3 shows the amount spent by ICICI bank towards CSR for the last 4 years. In the year the percentage of actual CSR contribution was 1.80%.In the year the amount of CSR spent by the bank increased from Rs Cr to Rs 164 Cr even though the mandatory requirement was only Rs Cr.in other words, the bank spent 0.47% more than the 2% requirement of CSR as per companies Act2013.But in the following years and the percentage of CSR decreased to 1.90% and 1.76% respectively even though there is a steady increase in net profit. 67

5 PERCENTAGE OF CSR CONTRIBUTION BY SBI AND ICICI BANK Table.3 Year SBI ICICI BANK Source: Annual reports and Business Responsibility Reports of selected bank The above table shows the comparison of percentage contribution of selected public sector and private sector bank towards CSR. The contribution of ICICI bank towards CSR is more as compared to SBI in all the four years. SBI could not meet the required criteria of 2% in any of the year but ICICI bank met the mandatory requirement of CSR at least in the financial year CONCLUSION Banking sector in India play significant role in augmenting the pace of country s economy by imposing innovative practices like Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). In this regard, the banks stand at a commanding position in discharging the responsibility of sustainable development with CSR. The study reveals that all the selected banks meet their corporate social responsibility by undertaking a number of initiatives in the field of education, health, employment, infrastructure development and environment protection. The study found that, both SBI and ICICI bank contribute certain percentage of their profit to fulfil the social responsibility. When Compared with SBI, ICICI bank played a dominant role in discharging their Corporate Social Responsibility. In spite of the fact that SBI is a giant public sector bank with strong customer base, still there is a long road ahead to fulfil their Corporate Social Responsibility. REFERENCES 1. Sharma, S. K. (2016). Comparative study of Corporate Social Responsibility. BDDU International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 1(3), Takur, D. M. S. M. U. (2016). Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives : A comparative analysis of State Bank of India and HDFC Bank. IRACST-International Journal of Commerce,business and Management, 5(6), Sankaravadivoo. (2015). Corporate Social Responsibity : AN analysis on selected banks in India. Renewable Research Journal, 3(3), Moharana S. (2013). Corporate Social Responsibility : A Study of Selected Public Sector Banks in India. IOSR Journal of Business and Management, 15(4), Swami(Dr.)Parthasarathy. (2007). Corporate Governance Princilpes,Mechanisms and Practice. Biztantra