ROLE OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) IN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN INDIA

  • Unique Paper ID: 179257
  • PageNo: 7312-7318
  • Abstract:
  • Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 mandates Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for qualifying Indian companies, requiring them to allocate 2% of their average net profits towards socially beneficial causes outlined under Schedule VII. Among these, environmental sustainability is one of the twelve permitted heads of expenditure. This article critically examines the current implementation of CSR in India, focusing specifically on the relative neglect of environmental initiatives, despite their legal validity and urgent necessity. The study explores the philosophical shift from India’s traditional notion of charity for spiritual merit (punya) to a more structured and accountable model of corporate responsibility rooted in environmental justice and sustainable development. Drawing from international frameworks like the Rio Declaration and the Triple Bottom Line (People, Planet, Profit), this research highlights the disproportionate CSR spending on education, infrastructure, and cultural activities which tend to serve corporate marketing goals over environmental restoration, which lacks immediate commercial return. The paper aims to underscore the need to reorient CSR frameworks to prioritize ecological balance, recommend policy reforms, and benchmark against global practices to ensure CSR genuinely contributes to sustainable development.

Copyright & License

Copyright © 2026 Authors retain the copyright of this article. This article is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

BibTeX

@article{179257,
        author = {Sakshi Choudhar},
        title = {ROLE OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) IN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN INDIA},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2025},
        volume = {11},
        number = {12},
        pages = {7312-7318},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=179257},
        abstract = {Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 mandates Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for qualifying Indian companies, requiring them to allocate 2% of their average net profits towards socially beneficial causes outlined under Schedule VII. Among these, environmental sustainability is one of the twelve permitted heads of expenditure. This article critically examines the current implementation of CSR in India, focusing specifically on the relative neglect of environmental initiatives, despite their legal validity and urgent necessity. The study explores the philosophical shift from India’s traditional notion of charity for spiritual merit (punya) to a more structured and accountable model of corporate responsibility rooted in environmental justice and sustainable development. Drawing from international frameworks like the Rio Declaration and the Triple Bottom Line (People, Planet, Profit), this research highlights the disproportionate CSR spending on education, infrastructure, and cultural activities which tend to serve corporate marketing goals over environmental restoration, which lacks immediate commercial return. The paper aims to underscore the need to reorient CSR frameworks to prioritize ecological balance, recommend policy reforms, and benchmark against global practices to ensure CSR genuinely contributes to sustainable development.},
        keywords = {CSR, India, Corporate Social Responsibility, Company, Environment},
        month = {May},
        }

Cite This Article

Choudhar, S. (2025). ROLE OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) IN ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION IN INDIA. International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology (IJIRT), 11(12), 7312–7318.

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