“The Evolution of CSR Financing in India: The Role of Zero Coupon Zero Principal Bonds in Sustainable Social Development – A Conceptual Framework”

  • Unique Paper ID: 206311
  • Volume: 13
  • Issue: 2
  • PageNo: 953-964
  • Abstract:
  • Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in India has evolved from a voluntary philanthropic activity to a statutory obligation under the Companies Act, 2013. Despite the substantial growth in CSR spending, the current financing mechanism is still more of an expenditure-based approach, and is still beset by issues of transparency, accountability, governance, and social impact assessment. The aim of this study is to analyze the advent of Zero Coupon Zero Principal (ZCZP) Bonds as an innovative CSR financing instrument in the context of the Social Stock Exchange. The study is conceptual in nature which uses secondary data from academic literature, government reports, regulatory documents and industry publications. The results show that ZCZP Bonds offer a mechanism for social financing with long term horizons, built on the principles of regulated financing and disclosure, to improve governance quality, stakeholder confidence, transparency and accountability. Theoretically, the proposed conceptual framework is validated by the sustainability management model of Baumgartner (2010), who see ZCZP bonds as an integrated sustainability management measure connecting the economic, social and governance aspects to corporate legitimacy and sustainable social development. There are, however, factors that could hinder their wide-spread use, such as lack of awareness, preparedness on the institutional side, and difficulties of measuring social outcomes.

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{206311,
        author = {K.Narmadhadevi and Dr.L.Rathakrishan},
        title = {“The Evolution of CSR Financing in India: The Role of Zero Coupon Zero Principal Bonds in Sustainable Social Development – A Conceptual Framework”},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {13},
        number = {2},
        pages = {953-964},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=206311},
        abstract = {Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in India has evolved from a voluntary philanthropic activity to a statutory obligation under the Companies Act, 2013. Despite the substantial growth in CSR spending, the current financing mechanism is still more of an expenditure-based approach, and is still beset by issues of transparency, accountability, governance, and social impact assessment. The aim of this study is to analyze the advent of Zero Coupon Zero Principal (ZCZP) Bonds as an innovative CSR financing instrument in the context of the Social Stock Exchange. The study is conceptual in nature which uses secondary data from academic literature, government reports, regulatory documents and industry publications. The results show that ZCZP Bonds offer a mechanism for social financing with long term horizons, built on the principles of regulated financing and disclosure, to improve governance quality, stakeholder confidence, transparency and accountability. Theoretically, the proposed conceptual framework is validated by the sustainability management model of Baumgartner (2010), who see ZCZP bonds as an integrated sustainability management measure connecting the economic, social and governance aspects to corporate legitimacy and sustainable social development. There are, however, factors that could hinder their wide-spread use, such as lack of awareness, preparedness on the institutional side, and difficulties of measuring social outcomes.},
        keywords = {Corporate Social Responsibility, Social Stock Exchange, Zero Coupon Zero Principal Bonds, Social Finance, Sustainable Development, Corporate Governance.},
        month = {July},
        }

Cite This Article

K.Narmadhadevi, , & Dr.L.Rathakrishan, (2026). “The Evolution of CSR Financing in India: The Role of Zero Coupon Zero Principal Bonds in Sustainable Social Development – A Conceptual Framework”. International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology (IJIRT), 13(2), 953–964.

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