IndiaCorpLaw

Paper on CSR in China and India

Professors Afra Afsharipour and Shruti
Rana
have a new paper titled The Emergence
of New Corporate Social Responsibility Regimes in China and India
, which is
now available on SSRN. The abstract is as follows:

In
an era of financial crises, widening income disparities, and environmental and
other calamities linked to corporations, calls for greater corporate social
responsibility (“CSR”) are increasing rapidly around the world. Though CSR
efforts have generally been viewed as voluntary actions undertaken by corporations,
a new CSR model is emerging in China and India. In a marked departure from CSR
as it is known in the United States and as it has been developing through
global norms, China and India are moving towards mandatory, not voluntary, CSR
regimes. They are doing so not only in a time of great global economic change,
but at a time when both countries are themselves undergoing massive economic
and social changes as they re-orient towards more market-based economies and
seek to enter the ranks of global economic superpowers.

This
Article conducts a comparative analysis of the emerging CSR regimes in China
and India and highlights key characteristics of these developing frameworks.
This Article begins an inquiry into some of the most significant implications
of the CSR regimes now unfolding in China and India, and their potential for
effecting legal and societal change. It also raises questions about why China
and India are moving towards mandatory CSR when other key global players are
taking a largely voluntary approach. Finally, this Article seeks to add to
global debates over corporate governance models by enhancing understanding of
the corporate governance developments and innovations now arising in China and
India.