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CSR: Give Credit Where Its Due

Publication: The Economic Times Mumbai;Date: Jan 10, 2011;Section: ET Awards;Page: 9

BUSINESS WITH CONSCIENCE: SERVING THE SOCIETY

CSR: Give Credit Where Its Due

HIS official title is Minister for Corporate Affairs, but going by many of his recent pronouncements, he may as well acquire the moniker of Minister for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). As the government weighs laws to prod businesses to set aside 2% of profits for socalled CSR initiatives, Salman Khurshid is clear that the cause will be better served by gentle persuasion rather than compulsion. Taking part in a panel discussion on the theme of giving at the ET Awards, Mr Khurshid said the governments approach would be less about forcing a company to spend a part of its profit, and more about facilitating, encouraging and inspiring companies to embrace greater CSR. I am quite clear that the government will not make it mandatory. We have to make it more persuasive by having more peer pressure, disclosure, setting own standards and self regulation, he said. The minister said investors should also appreciate companies based on the levels of CSR maintained by them, while making it clear that it cannot be policed by the government. Lacing his academic erudition with a lawyers precision, Mr Khurshid, an alumnus of Delhis St Stephens College and Oxford University, wants companies approach to CSR to be more than just ticking a box. CSR would work better in a self-regulating environment, he said. Companies should set their own standards on CSR and inform their various stakeholders about them. Stakeholders, in turn, should appreciate companies achieving these standards. The corporate affairs ministry under Mr Khurshid is working on a new Companies Bill that will have detailed provisions on CSR and may be introduced in the upcoming budget session of Parliament. A new idea doing the rounds is trading in CSR credits, much like the international trade in carbon credits under which polluting companies buy credits from nonpolluters. This system assigns a monetary value to the cost of polluting the environment and incentivises industry to cut down on pollution. Mr Khurshid told the panel that a system of CSR credits could similarly enable companies that achieve CSR objectives deal with others that fail to achieve them because of problems. He, however, said that while the government was examining the idea, it was at a nascent stage. CSR as a concept is fast gaining traction across the globe as companies embrace responsibility for their actions and encourage a positive impact through their activities on the environment, consumers, employees, communities, and all other members of society. In India too, CSR was previously linked with some large private groups such as the Tatas and the Birlas and some public sector organisations, but is gaining widespread acceptance as a concept across the corporate sector. Finally, according to Mr Khurshid, CSR must be about what a company does after business and how it does its business. I think thats very significant, he said, pointing at his cabinet colleague, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, who insists that not only a companys business but also the procedures it follows are important. Poetic Licence In The Time Of Telecom Scam PARACHUTED INTO THE UPA GOVERNments main trouble spots the telecom ministry after the ouster of A Raja last November, Kapil Sibal has since amply demonstrated why he may have been picked for this seemingly arduous assignment. In the last 54 days since his appointment as telecom minister, Mr Sibal has deployed his lawyers training to
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10/1/11 CSR: Give Credit Where Its Due the hilt, blending sharpness, pugnacity and erudition of prose to defend the government against charges of corruption while wresting the initiative from the opposition. But at the ET Awards 2010, prose gave its way to poetry when Sibal took stage to receive ETs Business Reformer of the Year award for his work in shaking up Indias education system since being appointed HRD minister in the UPAs second innings in 2009. In his acceptance speech after receiving the award from senior cabinet colleague Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Mr Sibal offered a peek into the pugnacious streak in him coupled with the sharp lawyers brain. Two days ago someone from ET said: When you come here you must recite a poem. I did not have a lot of time, as you know I was a little busy yesterday (Friday), he said, to peals of laughter from the audience. On Friday, he had blasted the Comptroller and Auditor Generals assumptions of a nearly Rs 177,000-crore loss to the government from the sale of wireless spectrum in 2008 as utterly erroneous and lashed out at the opposition parties for disrupting parliament. But his poem, cobbled together in 20 minutes on the flight from Delhi to Mumbai, was more reflective.

I want to know the reason why, You hold out that I am the guy, You single out for this award, I consider it quite odd. Your efforts to bestow some trust, On those who chose to oft distrust. We are the villains of the piece, Do not deserve awards like these. What is it that you hope from this, Except something might be amiss. This bashing of my ilk might be, A danger to democracy. Our journeys lap has just begun, Our efforts must not be undone. Our discourse through the media should, Shun negatives,display the goods. Give some thought to young saplings, Who every morning believe in you. Seek through you to communicate, Build confidence,invigorate. Torch bearers of our future dreams, Tell them things are not what they seem. Time to reprint i witness, an anthology of poems written by him in 2008?

Two days ago someone from ET said: When you come here you must recite a poem. I did not have much time, I was a little busy on Friday KAPIL SIBAL Union HRD & Telecom Minister

The govt will not make CSR mandatory. We have to make it more persuasive by having more peer pressure and self regulation SALMAN KHURSHID Union Minister for Corporate Affairs

FREEZE FRAME: L&Ts YM Deosthalee

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CSR: Give Credit Where Its Due

THE RTI TEST: Arvind Kejriwal

SAY CHEERS: Kishore Chhabria

ITS A BIG DEAL: Actis JM Trivedi

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10/1/11 CSR: Give Credit Where Its Due THE RIGHT SIDE: MS Sahoo, member, Sebi

IT ALL ADDS UP: Broker Ramesh Damani

KNOWLEDGE QUOTIENT: Janmejaya Sinha, A-Pac chairman, BCG

MONEY LAUGHS: A Balasubramanian, CEO, Birla Sunlife

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CSR: Give Credit Where Its Due

WORDSMITH: Telecom minister Kapil Sibal

THIS ONES FOR YOU MA: Narendra Murkumbi with The ET Awards trophy

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CSR: Give Credit Where Its Due

TALKING HEADS: HCCs Ajit Gulabchand with Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan

EASY DOES IT: Prithviraj Chavan with Jairam Ramesh

DEAL COUNTER: Vedika Bhandarkar of Credit Suisse

CHECKING IN: ICICI Venture MD Vishakha Mulye

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CSR: Give Credit Where Its Due

COVER POINT: ICICI Lombards Bhargav Dasgupta

FIZZ & FIRE: Pepsi India head Manu Anand

THE BULL STOP: India Infoline chairman Nirmal Jain

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10/1/11 TRADE WIND: Motilal Oswal, CMD

CSR: Give Credit Where Its Due

SOUNDING BOARD: Bharat Banka, MD, Aditya Birla Capital Advisors

MAKING THE GRADE: Amit Tandon, MD, Fitch Ratings

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CSR: Give Credit Where Its Due

STRONG FOUNDATION: Jairam Ramesh, Pranab Mukherjee, Vineet Jain, Salman Khurshid and Sunil Mittal

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