The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has had a pivotal status in the debates surrounding corporate law and governance at the turn of the century. Although CSR was ensconced in the idea of voluntarism by which companies and their boards are invited to pay attention to the interests of various constituencies affected by a company’s activities, in some jurisdictions such as India it...
Does ESG’s Success in India Threaten the CSR Regime?
[Divyanshu Sharma is a 3rd Year BALLB (Hons) Student at National Law University, Delhi] Corporate social responsibility (‘CSR’) and environmental, social and governance (‘ESG’) investment criteria are two concepts which predominantly affect the investment decisions of a socially oriented investor. According to the UNIDO, CSR is a management concept wherein companies integrate social and...
ESG Rating Providers: Analyzing India’s Proposed Regulatory Framework
[Paridhi Jain is a 5th year B.B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at Symbiosis Law School, Noida] Once a niche market for investors, environmental, social, governance (“ESG”) investing has grown over the past few years. The pandemic is being referred to as a “sustainability” crisis and one that has re-invigorated focus on climate change, acting as a wake-up call for investors to prioritize a more...
Social Impact Investing in India- A Road Less Travelled
[Aashna Soman is a 5th-year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.) student at ILS Law College, Pune] The concept of impact investing arose to fill the lack of public resources to fund development programs in financially poor countries. Impact Bonds (“IBs”) are innovative financial instruments that pull private investment to finance high-impact social programs. The implementation of impact bonds aids in financing...
Parent’s Duty of Care in Relation to a Subsidiary: India and Beyond
[Radhika Ghosh and Yatin Gaur are 3rd year B.A. L.L.B (Hons.) students at Hidayatullah National Law University in Raipur.] The English Supreme Court has yet again in the recent decision of Okpabi v Royal Dutch Shell considered the question of the jurisdictional challenges associated with claims being brought in England against a UK domiciled parent for the actions of its foreign subsidiary. The...
Coveted Tax Relief For Covid-Care Policies: An Employers’ Perspective
[Kavya Mathur and Pragya Chandak are law graduates from National Law University, Jodhpur] The unprecedented Covid-19 health crisis has had a grim impact on all facets of life, including the disruption of business, people’s livelihoods and even the loss of life. While employers are persevering to stay afloat themselves, there is undoubtedly also an element of altruism and sincere concern for the...
Tax Deductibility in the Light of the New CSR Regime
[Shivani Pattnaik and Sourav Jena are undergraduate students at the National Law University, Odisha] Recently, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (“MCA”) along with the Government of India has amended section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 (“the Act”), thereby bringing upon significant changes to corporate social responsibility (“CSR”) regulations in India. After years of mandated CSR in the...
A Post-Pandemic Analysis of CSR in India
India’s provision relating to corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the Companies Act, 2013 has attempted to define and measure the concept, and is in this respect something of a milestone. However, by thus providing a definition and measurability to CSR, the concept has lost some of its innate flexibility. In my article forthcoming in the Journal of Comparative Law, I examine how effective...
UKSC on Parent’s Liability for Environmental Violations of Foreign Subsidiaries
[Raghav Harini N is a final year student at ILS Law College, Pune] In a recent landmark decision in Okpabi v Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the Supreme Court of United Kingdom (UK) has permitted a jurisdiction appeal against a UK-domiciled parent company for the environmental violations of its Nigerian subsidiary. This judgment makes a significant contribution to the fields of human rights, environmental...
Analysing MCA’s Proposed Framework on Business Responsibility Reporting
[Yash More and Hitoishi Sarkar are III year students at Gujarat National Law University] On August 18, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (“SEBI”) released the Consultation Paper on the format for Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting in India. Interestingly, on August 11, 2020, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (“MCA”) had also released the Report of the Committee...
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