Political CSR in India: analysis of Indian participants in the United Nations Global Compact in the pre and post mandate period

Research on the political connotations of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has been gaining momentum. Political CSR includes social and philanthropic activities undertaken by firms that enable them to access political stakeholders while safeguarding their legitimacy and reputation at the same time. One such activity includes participation in the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), which, since its inception in 2000, has provided an opportunity for organisations to voluntarily participate in addressing social challenges from a global multi-stakeholder perspective. However, governments in several emerging-market countries have been making CSR mandatory to address social and environmental issues at a local (or domestic) level. In this study, I analyse the Indian participants in the United Nations Global Compact in the pre and post CSR mandate period (passing of the Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013). By doing so, this study aims to explore how the CSR mandate could potentially have implications on Political CSR.