Institutionalization of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in India and Its Effects on CSR Reporting: A Case Study of the Petroleum and Gas Industry

Abstract

The institutionalization of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in India attracts significant interest and discussion at the political, policy and practitioner level. It also highlights the importance of CSR within and beyond the Indian context. Section 135 of the Companies Act of 2013, mandated CSR spending in large companies that propelled companies from the old charitable and philanthropic model of ‘social giving’ to establishing CSR as a ‘convention or norm’, with companies remaining committed to the institutionalization of CSR. While, domestic companies in the petroleum and gas industry have often been engulfed with numerous criticisms due to oil spills and irresponsible behaviour towards stakeholders, they are also the top companies in terms of embracing mandatory CSR spending and explicitly reporting about their CSR practices and spending. Companies have increasingly developed sophisticated reporting methods to communicate with their stakeholders about their CSR and its alignment to Schedule VII of the Act. This chapter discusses all these elements, aiming to capture the changing Indian CSR landscape, by analysing the CSR reporting of four leading petroleum and gas companies and also examines the effects of mandatory CSR spending on CSR reporting in these companies. The theoretical lens of institutional theory leads to a clearer understanding of how isomorphisms (coercive, normative and mimetic) have shaped the CSR reporting of companies in the last few years and the extent to which the reports are driven by institutional pressures, for seeking legitimacy.