Corporate Social Responsibility in India: A Case Study of Public and Private Sector

This paper attempts to understand the work done by a public sector and private sector organization in the field of corporate social responsibility(CSR). This study is based on the primary data of Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. (OICL) and secondary data of Reliance Life Insurance Company Ltd. (RLIC). The primary data for Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. was collected through a semi-structured interview and the secondary data for Reliance Life Insurance Company Ltd. was collected through their web portal. The findings suggest that though the corporate social responsibility activities revolve around similar areas for both the sectors, focusing on community, health, education, and infrastructure, yet the policies and procedures regarding corporate social responsibility were structured and systematic for Reliance Life Insurance Company Ltd. in comparison to that of Oriental Insurance Company Ltd. Both public (OICL) and private (RLIC) sector enterprises work with a special set of constraints and challenges, due to which they strategize their operations differently. The focus of organizations should not only be conduction of CSR, but creating sustainable practices should be the focus.