An Empirical Study on Green Initiatives by S&P BSE SENSEX Companies in India at the Outlet of Companies Act, 2013

Abstract

Considering the necessity to build up corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in general and sustainability in particular under statutory obligations, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India had notified in Companies Act 2013 (section 135) that every public limited company and private limited company having net worth of more than 500 crore or turnover more than 1000 crore or net profit more than 5 crore needs to comply with CSR rules (i.e., contributing 2% or more for the welfare of society following the prescribed guidelines under Schedule VII). The chapter focuses on CSR activities of companies registered under BSE SENSEX and evaluating their current status in CSR activities from the perspective of the broad heading of planet and people. A detailed analysis is done to highlight the current situation of the companies towards sustainable development through corporate sustainability index and statistical tools like Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney U test to represent the contributions of these companies towards the environmental responsibilities. The study of CSR reveals the endeavors of surveyed companies towards the holistic development covering the noteworthy issue of environmental protection and sustainability; however, a continuous vigil from the regulatory bodies is the need of the hour to ensure that adherence to CSR practices should not only be in mere form but in true spirits.