Is the Indian corporate social responsibility law working for the public sector?

This study adapts the New Governance Framework to investigate the perspectives of the regulators of India’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and the perspectives of the regulated SOEs towards the country’s recent corporate social responsibility (CSR) law. This law mandates that companies spend a fixed amount of their profit on specified CSR activities. The findings indicate that SOEs welcome the regulation, but face implementation issues and political pressures. These issues are forcing SOEs to invest in less impactful CSR activities, which was previously not the case. Regulators believe that companies are making excuses, such as limited resources for implementation, no co-operation with the civil sector and lack of direct contact with communities. The authors argue that a more effective dialogue is required to ensure effective implementation of the new CSR regulation to deliver India’s social development agenda.