Observers increasingly note that corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a mainstream business activity (e.g., The Economist 2008).While there may be no single universally accepted definition of CSR, each definition that currently exists underpins the impact that businesses have on society at large and the societal expectations of them. Although the roots of CSR lie in philanthropic activities (such as donations, charity, relief work, etc.) of corporations, globally, the concept of CSR has evolved and now encompasses all related concepts

such as triple bottom line, corporate citizenship, philanthropy, strategic philanthropy, shared value, corporate sustainability and business responsibility. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is viewed as a comprehensive set of policies, practices and programs that are integrated into business operations, supply chains, and decision-making processes throughout the organization -- wherever the organization does business -- and includes responsibility for current and past actions as well as future impacts. Long referred to as a company’s soul food, corporate social responsibility is finally being taken seriously by Indian tech companies as they embark on a gamut of philanthropic activities. India is the first country in the world to mandate corporate social responsibility. On 1 April 2014, the government of India implemented new CSR guidelines requiring companies to spend 2% of their net profit on social development. But another face is that the 2% ruling could lead to forced philanthropy, 'tick box' behavior, tokenism or even corruption, and masking of data to avoid having to comply. Time will show if this legislation will have a real impact on poor people's lives and prevent actual environmental degradation.

Literature Review:

It is widely accepted that businesses exist to make money for investors. But should firms voluntarily perform additional functions that benefit other members of society? Scholarship on corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a broad area of inquiry that attempts to answer this fundamental question. The literature on CSR and innovation draws on a number of different theoretical traditions, which often are in contradiction to each other:

• The EC defines CSR as “the responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society”. To completely meet their social responsibility, enterprises “should have in place a process to integrate social, environmental, ethical human rights and consumer concerns into their business operations and core strategy in close collaboration with their stakeholders”

• The WBCSD defines CSR “the continuing commitment by business to contribute to economic development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their families as well as of the community and society at large.”

As discussed, CSR in India, from earlier times, is seen as part of corporate philanthropy; the founders of large business families are credited with setting-up trusts and endowment funds to support local community development (Mohan, 2001; Chaudhri and Wang, 2007). Chambers et al.’s (2003) seven-country study of CSR in Asia reveals that CSR penetration in India is relatively high with over 80%of corporations administering some kind of CSR programs ; this exceeds some of India’s counterparts in Asia, especially Malaysia, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines that are economically more prosperous than India.

Indian Business experts say on CSR clause within the Companies Act, 2013

• Sai Venkateshwaran, partner and head of accounting advisory services at KPMG India---"India is the only country that has made legislation for CSR spending "Many big companies have been actively engaged in the CSR activities, but the number is low. The new law will lead to a significant increase in the numbers," adding the mandated spending would be in the range of Rs10,000 crore to Rs15,000 crore annually.

• Ratan Tata, the former chairman of Tata Sons, the holding company of the $100bn Tata group, has said: We have a phenomenon which is meant to be good but is going to be somewhat chaotic. we don't as yet know what kind of monitoring there'll be in terms of how well this money is used.

• Azim Premji, the philanthropist and head of the £3.4bn IT services firm Wipro,2013: Worry is the stipulation should not become a tax at a later stage . Spending 2% on CSR is a lot, especially for companies that are trying to scale up in these difficult times. It must not be imposed.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

It is a cross sectional studies which of descriptive in nature. It involved Secondary data collection and use of content analysis technique to assess CSR practices of companies operating in India with special focus on Coca-Cola India. Different news articles, Books and Web were used which were enumerated and recorded.

Changing the phase of Indian Business thinking socially--CSR the Indian Way

In the US, there is even considerable debate about the value of CSR. Some think firms can serve society best by maximizing risk-adjusted financial returns to shareholders and leaving societal contributions beyond job creation to the government. On the other hand, Indian leaders had placed a lot of stock in CSR. A robust and thriving development sector is central to India’s quest for equitable, inclusive and sustainable growth. India’s development sector has evolved substantially over the last few decades and is now witnessing unprecedented interest and investments across the value chain.

Going into the history CSR in India has traditionally been seen as a philanthropic activity. As a result, there is limited documentation on specific activities related to this concept. However, what was clearly evident that much of this had a national character encapsulated within it, whether it was endowing institutions to actively participating in India’s freedom movement, and embedded in the idea of trusteeship. Indian entrepreneurs and business enterprises have a long tradition of working within the values that have defined our nation's character for millennia. India's ancient wisdom, which is still relevant today, inspires people to work for the larger objective of the well-being of all stakeholders.

With the passage of the Companies Act, 2013 the mandate for corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been formally introduced to the dashboard of the Boards of Indian companies. The industry has responded positively to the reform measure undertaken by the government with a wide interest across the public and private sector, Indian and multinational companies.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has notified Section 135 and Schedule VII of the Companies Act 2013 as well as the provisions of the Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rules, 2014 to come into effect from April 1, 2014. The CSR activities should not be undertaken in the normal course of business and must be with respect to any of the activities mentioned in Schedule VII of the 2013 Act. Contribution to any political party is not considered to be a CSR activity and only activities in India would be considered for computing CSR expenditure.

The financial component/budgetary spend on CSR and Sustainability will be based on the profitability of the company and shall be determined by the Profit after Tax (PAT) on the company in the previous year.

PAT of CPSES in the Previous year	Range of the Budgetary allocation for CSR and Sustainability activities (as % of PAT in previous year)
Less than Rs.100 crore	3%-5%
Rs. 100 crore to Rs.500 crore	2%-3%
Rs.500 crore and above	1%-2%

However, what this Act does is bring more companies into the fold. Also, it is likely that the total CSR spends will increase. What is clear to many companies is that if this increased spending is to achieve results on the ground – which is the intent of the Act – then it needs to be done strategically, systematically and thoughtfully.

The CSR Rules appear to widen the ambit for compliance obligations to include the holding and subsidiary companies as well as foreign companies whose branches or project offices in India fulfill the specified criteria. There is a need for clarity with respect to the compliance obligations of a company as well as its holding and subsidiary companies.

The activities that can be undertaken by a company to fulfill its CSR obligations include eradicating hunger, poverty and malnutrition, promoting preventive healthcare, promoting education and promoting gender equality, setting up homes for women, orphans and the senior citizens, measures for reducing inequalities faced by socially and economically backward groups, ensuring environmental sustainability and ecological balance, animal welfare, protection of national heritage and art and culture, measures for the benefit of armed forces veterans, war widows and their dependents, training to promote rural, nationally recognized, Paralympics or Olympic sports, contribution to the prime minister's national relief fund or any other fund set up by the Central Government for socio economic development and relief and welfare of SC, ST, OBCs, minorities and women, contributions or funds provided to technology incubators located within academic institutions approved by the Central Government and rural development projects.

However, in determining CSR activities to be undertaken, preference would need to be given to local areas and the areas around where the company operates.

Case Study:

Sustainability management structure - Coca Cola India

The Coca-Cola Company re-entered India through its wholly owned subsidiary, Coca-Cola India Private Limited and re-launched Coca-Cola in 1993 after the opening up of the Indian economy to foreign investments in 1991. Since then its operations have grown rapidly through a model that supports bottling operations, both company owned as well as locally owned and includes over 7,000 Indian distributors and more than 2.2 million retailers. But, the company came in for severe criticism from activists and environmental experts who charged it with depleting groundwater resources in the areas in which its bottling plants were located, thereby affecting the livelihood of poor farmers, dumping toxic and hazardous waste materials near its bottling facilities, and discharging waste water into the agricultural lands of farmers. This led to its becoming one of the most boycotted companies in the world.

To counter the criticism against it, Coca-Cola India decided that it had to take steps to conserve water. The company implemented several water conservation initiatives like watershed protection, rainwater harvesting projects, and community initiatives in several places in India. Coca-Cola introduced Water Neutrality a global strategy in India by 2009. But critics felt that Coca-Cola was spending millions of dollars to project a 'green' and 'environment-friendly' image of it, while failing to make any change in its operations. Coca-Cola India claimed that its water sustainability initiatives had helped it to reduce its water consumption by 35 percent between 1999 and 2006 and that by 2009; it would curb its groundwater usage even more and reach zero water balance. The company aimed to achieve zero water balance by focusing on core areas such as curbing water usage in the production of beverages, recycling the water it used for the purpose of manufacturing beverages, reusing water, and finally, replenishing water for returning to the environment

Coca-Cola India unveiled its new communication initiative ‘Coca Cola India -- Little drops of joy’ supported by a 360-degree ad campaign in 2007. It also unveiled its five-pillar growth strategy that focuses on people, planet, portfolio, partners and performance.

Criticism

Criticism	Actions
Depleting groundwater tables	October 2002 by Dr. R.N. Athvale, emeritus scientist at the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), which had concluded that there was no field evidence of overexploitation of the groundwater reserves in the area surrounding the plant
Seized land from farmers and that it had discharged hazardous material and sludge in the areas surrounding its plants in India.	June 2002. report prepared by the Palakkad District Environmental Protection Council and Guidance Society. The report had concluded that the factory had not caused any environmental damage at any level On January 14, 2008, The Energy and Resource Institute (TERI) released a report on Coca-Cola India’s environmental practices. The report concluded that no traces of pesticide had been found in the treated water and intake water that the company used to make beverages. The report also said that the company had complied with the norms of the Indian regulatory environment
The Centre for Science and Environment issued a report of test results regarding unacceptable levels of pesticides in Coca-Cola.	Tests by the Central Science Laboratory detected no residues of the pesticides, it reported less than 0.1 parts per billion of each of the four pesticides mentioned by CSE The company also quoted a study conducted by the Department of Family and Child Welfare, Central Government of India, provided scientific data on the safety of its beverages
Coca-Cola opened an exclusive website, www.cokefacts.org, which addressed the allegations related to India and other countries.

As a responsible corporate, Coca-Cola India has always placed high value on good citizenship. The company’s CSR policy “Live Positively” establishes seven core areas where the company sets itself measurable goals to improve the business’ sustainability practices. The core areas are beverage benefits, active healthy living, the community, energy and climate, sustainable packaging, water stewardship and the workplace. The company provides extensive support for community programs across the country. Coca-Cola has won various awards in the field of CSR and sustainability since 2003 till 2010 Exhibit I.

Challenges CSR would face in India

• Critics feel that mandatory CSR is inherently contradictory. CSR is fundamentally an inspirational exercise, and it is very difficult to legislate aspirations. Laws only set minimum standards; they do not create any impetus for positive action. For example, it would be difficult to mandate that companies “build excellent schools” or be “generous to the community.”

• Some critics believe that CSR programs are undertaken by companies to distract the public from ethical questions posed by their core operations. Coca-Cola strategy for Water Neutrality was opposed by critics as greenwashing.

• CSR in India tends to focus on what is done with profits after they are made. On the other hand, sustainability is about factoring the social and environmental impacts of conducting business, that is, how profits are made.

• The extent of social benefit derived from going CSR localized strategies prepared by the companies is much localized and restricted in nature due to the presence of a greater number of companies and manufacturing setups in limited areas (urban centers and rural areas providing cheap raw materials and labor) and hence, the companies get away with flimsy, low scale strategies serving the limited purposes of the population surrounding their establishment which holds minimal value.

• Lack of professionalism is another problem faced by this sector.

• Small companies do not take adequate interest in CSR activities and those which undertake them fail to disclose it to the society. In the process they lose out on people and their trust in them.

• Investors are changing the way they assess companies' performance, and are making decisions based on criteria that include ethical concerns.

• There is a lack of interest of the local community in participating and contributing to CSR activities of companies.

CSR as such compulsion is often viewed as unjust and arbitrary for a field guided by economic incentives and profit maximization. The compulsion element that has been added to an activity which is traditionally viewed as voluntary in nature has been received as a form of tax imposed on business enterprises in an indirect manner causing a certain degree of discomfort. The element of voluntarism and initiative associated with CSR is the primary reason why such activities win goodwill as they are not mandated. Corporations engage in such activities because they care, and not because they are required to. Government imposed compulsions remove the essence of such social responsibility exercised by the business organizations.

Suggestions and Recommendations

• Knowledge Management is a key to seek out problems in drawing outline of whole CSR program. Create a group of Knowledge workers who get to collect and analyze information regarding the field of CSR. It is found that corporate houses and non-governmental organizations should actively consider pooling their resources and building synergies to implement best CSR practices to scale up projects and innovate new ones to reach out to more beneficiaries. Knowledge management project aimed to provide companies with the knowledge and tools to optimize inclusive business models for increased shared value creation at local level by working and building on levels:

• Incubation of business innovation projects;

• Knowledge and best practice sharing;

• The main problem faced by the New Company Act 2013, Section 135s directs the companies to give preference to the local areas with respect to focusing the implementation of their CSR policies. So, the urban and rural industrial areas would have a number of companies providing CSR activities at the same time and hence, the companies get away with flimsy, low scale strategies serving the limited purposes of the population surrounding their establishment which holds minimal value. So, a CSR MODEL should be made State wise with major companies’ representatives and NGO’s .

• The CSR activities of company/Companies are a very important factor and it is also compulsory for state and for the company itself. The senior management team should give assistance and recommdetion deciding CSR goals.

• CSR programmes should be based on the basic need of the local people for more and more co-opration and participation in the programme. This is required to create the job opportunity and economic balance in rural community.

CSR Model:

• Form a State wise Committee with members from Major Companies and NGO’s

• Categories the major concerned areas like education, clean water, hospitals, sanitation facilities etc. And rate it according to necessities and priorities.

• Ask the Committee to make plans for each concerned area

• Best plan should be implemented in whole state, giving Companies the different regions in a specific time period.

• A quarterly progress report should be submitted to the Committee and thus evaluation and control should be done.

• Everyone in the organization needs to recognize their own role in promoting CSR. Companies should provide wider professional development activities. Training, conferences and seminars could be organized by companies to disseminate and generate new knowledge and information in this sector.

• Each one of the Company from Employees to Board of Directors, Stakeholders and Investors to consumers should be aware about the CSR Initiatives company is taking. So a good communication strategy should be adopted.

Conclusions:

Corporate sustainability is an evolving process and not an end. It needs no argument to claim that CSR practices adopted by the companies pay them off in managing their image. Across the globe, the concept of CSR has been accepted as an element for success and survival of business along with fulfilling social objectives. It is found that there is a need for creation of awareness about CSR amongst the general public to make CSR initiatives more effective. This effort will also motivate other corporate houses to join the league and play an effective role in addressing issues such as access to education, health care and livelihood opportunities for a large number of people in India through their innovative CSR practices.

The Companies Act 2012 if passed by Rajya Sabha and assented by the President will make India would become world’s first country to make investment in corporate social responsibility (CSR) a legal requirement, despite not establishing penalties for noncompliance. Indian businesses by and large have followed a philanthropic, social-initiative based CSR approach for a prolonged period of time. While there is nothing wrong with this approach, the status quo will not propel India into the next era of business competitiveness.

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2003	Coca-Cola India bottling plant at Atmakuru, Andhra Pradesh, received the Golden Peacock National Quality Award.
2004	The Corporate Social Responsibility Award was given to the Coca-Cola bottling facility at Patna by J.M. Institute of Speech and Hearing in 2004-05. The Golden Peacock Award was given by the World Environment Foundation for effective environmental management at the Coca-Cola India plant at Ameenpur Village, near Hyderabad, India
2005	Coca-Cola India, Jalpaiguri unit received the Environment Appreciation Certificate 2005 in recognition of its efforts to protect and preserve the environment through proactive environmental practices. The Best Management Award was given to Coca-Cola India by the Government of Andhra Pradesh for its people management practices. It received the Best Organization Award from the Government of Uttar.
2006	The Golden Peacock Environment Management Commendation was given to the Coca-Cola India bottling facility in Varanasi. The Pollution Control Excellence Award was given to the Coca-Cola India bottling facility at Khurda, Orissa, by the Orissa State Pollution Control Board.
2007	The Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) recognized Coca-Cola India’s Kaladera plant as a “Water Efficient Unit” across industries at the National Award for Excellence in Water Management. The Kaladera plant also won the Innovative Project Award Coca-Cola India was recognized by the Cultural Council of the Kaladera Community in Rajasthan for outstanding citizenship initiatives.
2008	Coca-Cola India was awarded the Golden Peacock Global CSR Award, in recognition of its water conservation/management and community development initiatives. Singh was conferred the distinguished fellowship by the Institute of Directors (IOD) for outstanding business leadership and contribution to society. For four consecutive years, Coca-Cola India received the “Bhagidari Award” from the Delhi government. Coca-Cola India received community recognition from the villagers of Kaladera in Rajasthan for various citizenship initiatives. The projects included restoration of ancient step wells — Sarai Bawri and Kale Hanuman ki Bawri, 140 recharge shafts being set up and the setting up of rainwater harvesting projects, providing infrastructure support, and introducing initiatives in primary health and education.
2009	Coca-Cola India made a hat-trick by bagging the coveted Golden Peacock Award third year in a row for CSR. Of the four Golden Peacock Global Awards for Corporate Social Responsibility given at Lisbon in Portugal, Coca-Cola India awarded the Bombay Stock Exchange Award for Social and Corporate Governance 2009
2010	On the occasion of International Workers' Day on May 1st, 2010, Andhra Pradesh government conferred the "Best Management Award" of the year to the Andhra Pradesh operations of the Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages Private Limited (HCCBPL).
2011	Coca-Cola India was also awarded the coveted Chanakya Awards 2011 by the prestigious Public Relations Council of India (PRCI) for using communication as a tool for creating awareness on water conservation. The award was presented to the Company in recognition of the communications tool- The Ripple Effect, developed for sharing best practices in Water and Sanitation project of Coca-Cola and UN-HABITAT in India and Nepal. The same project Ripple Effect- with UN Habitat was also awarded the coveted prize of 'Best Use of Public Relations for a Social Cause Award' at the First Indian PR and Corporate Communication Awards instituted by the leading communication house