Impact of CSR On Financial Performance of Top 10 Performing CSR Companies in India
Impact of CSR On Financial Performance of Top 10 Performing CSR Companies in India
Impact of CSR On Financial Performance of Top 10 Performing CSR Companies in India
e-ISSN: 2321-5933, p-ISSN: 2321-5925.Volume 10, Issue 2 Ser. II (Mar. – Apr.2019), PP 49-55
www.iosrjournals.org
Abstract:The main purpose of this paper is to know the effectiveness of New Companies Act, 2013 with respect
to CSR and examine its impact on financial performance of selected 10 Indian companies which was measured
by financial ratios such as Profit before tax, Return on capital employed, Return on Equity and Return on Asset.
The study is purely based on secondary sources collected from Companies Annual Report and Sustainability
Report for four years 2014-17. The result shows that in an average all companies are contributing 2% towards
CSR activities which was an prescribe percentage as per New Companies Act, 2013 under Section 135, in which
Ambuja Cement is contributing more towards CSR activities. It also reveals that impact of CSR on overall
company’s financial performance is significantly positive with respect to financial ratios like PBT, ROC, ROE
and ROA but individually insignificant. When CSR contribution increases, the company’s financial performance
also increases and vice-versa. Further, the trends of CSR contribution in all selected companies is increasing
which depicts the success of Section 135 with respect to CSR as per new Companies Act, 2013.
Key words: Corporate social responsibility (CSR), Financial Performance, Sustainability report, Profit Before
Tax (PBT), Return on Capital Employed (ROC), Return on Equity (ROE) and Return on Asset (ROA)
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Date of Submission: 27-03-2019 Date of acceptance: 12-04-2019
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I. Introduction
The concept of CSR is changing with the passage of time. In ancient times, companies used to
contribute voluntarily by the name of donation or sponsorship. After 2013, the new Companies Act, 2013 made
mandatory for companies having a turnover of Rs. 1000 crores or more or net-worth more than 500 crores or
more and for companies which has net profit of Rs. 5 crore or more should contribute 2% of their net profit
towards Corporate Social Responsibility and suggest to form separate CSR committee and also to disclose CSR
activities in official Annual Report of the company under the Section 135 of Schedule VII of Companies Act,
2013.
According to Lea (2002) describe Corporate Social Responsibility as “Corporate Social Responsibility
is about all types of businesses and other organizations doing beyond legal obligations to manage the impacts
they have on the environment and society. In particular, this could include how organizations interact with
employees, suppliers, customers and the communities in which they operate, as well as the extent they attempt
to protect the environment.
Corporate Social Responsibility improves corporate governance, transparency and accountability to
stakeholders and helps in Nation building process (Shetty, V. S, 2014). But some of the challenges faced by
Indian corporate while implementing CSR are lack of community participation, transparency, visibility factor,
narrow perception, lack of awareness, non-availability of clear CSR guidelines etc. Though, India is growing
faster socially and economically still problems like poverty, illiteracy, lack of healthcare etc., are the biggest
challenges but present conditions seems to be changing as many leading companies are involved in CSR
activities in the areas like education, healthcare, skill development and empowerment of weaker sections of
society which results in inclusive development of our society (Kumar, N. 2014). The companies enjoys many
benefits by contributing towards CSR like improved financial performance, lower operating cost, enhanced
brand image and reputation, increased sales and customer loyalty, product safely, material recyclability and
greater use of renewable resources (RichaGautam, A.S, 2010).
performance but results shows mixed opinion. In this regard, the researcher evident that,CSR has positive
impact on Net profit of the company but doesn’t have positive impact on EPS and ROA. He concludes that CSR
has impact on profit of the company if company spend more towards CSR activities which results in sustainable
development of the company as well as society (Bafna, A, 2017).The increased CSR performance leads to
better access to finance. The author found that the firms which contributes more towards CSR activities have
better access to financial resources and also helps in reducing capital constraint, better stakeholders’ engagement
and transparency and thus suggest to companies to develop good CSR strategies for long term sustainability of
the companies (BeitingChenag, I. I, 2018). There is a positive impact on firms financial and non-financial
performance of the selected BSE listed firms in India through stakeholders approach. He also identified that
CSR increases public image, publicity, good governance etc. and shareholding pattern didn’t have significant
impact on CSR activities (Krishnan. N, 2012). CSR impacts positively on financial performance of banks in
Pakistan for the period 2008-12 by adopting EPS, ROA, ROC and Net profits as financial indicators. Further,
suggest Government to motivate banks to spend more towards CSR which results in increasing profit and
reputation for the longer period of time (M. Shoukat Malik, M.N. 2014). There is positive impact on CSR and
financial performance like net profit and total assets of 15 companies listed in Karachi Stock Exchange for the
period 2008-12. The author opined that CSR has positive impact on profitability and hence CSR has to be
considered as an investment rather than expenditure which results in sustainability of business and also society
(MaunazaKanwal, F. K. 2013). The actual spending of CSR by banking sector for the year 2013-14 of 19
banks. The overall results depicts that 19 banks had spent INR 535.85 crore on different CSR activities which is
almost three times of amount spending preceding years which is the result of new companies Act, 2014 and
therefore suggest banks to design their CSR policy and projects as its positive impact on overall performance
rather than spending like donation and sponsorship kind (Namrata Singh, R. S. 2015). Impact of CSR on
financial performance of Private and Public banks by taking Net profit as financial indicator. The result reveals
that there is positive impact on financial performance of Private banks than Private bank and suggest
government to issue guidelines for public sector to develop CSR investment strategy which results in good
financial performance for the long term (Rajnish Yadav, F.2016). CSR activities reporting undertaken by Top
500 companies in India revealed that only 271 companies are reporting their CSR activities and rest 299 are not
showing it. The disclosure of CSR activities results in improved financial performance, lower operating cost,
enhanced brand image, increased sales, customer loyalty and greater use of renewable resources. The author
highlighted that companies use CSR as a marketing tool guided by top management than social responsiveness
and suggest companies to integrate CSR with business practices (RichaGautam, A. S. 2010). The relationship
between CSR and organisational performance by taking ROA and Turnover as financial parameter. The results
shows that CSR impacts positively on financial performance and hence suggest companies to follow policies
prescribed by the new Companies Act, 2013 by forming separate department to work on CSR for long term
success of the business (ShaistaSiddiq, S. J, 2014). There is positive relationship between CSR and financial
performance relating to ROC, ROE, ROA, Net profit etc. and non-financial parameters like job satisfaction,
employee commitment and internal reputation. He suggests to companies to integrate CSR in their strategic
planning for sustainability of business for long run and for the society’s welfare (Truptha, S.2016).
V. Research Methodology
A. Data source and type: The study is based on secondary data of India’s Top 10 companies for
Sustainability and CSR for the financial year 2014-17 as per Futurescape Report 2017.
B. Sampling Units & sample data: For analysing the impact of corporate social responsibility on financial
performance, a sample of 10 top performing CSR companies was drawn from the population of India’s Top
100 companies for Sustainability and CSR (Source :Futurescape)
C. Data Collection & Classification: The study is purely based on Secondary sources of data collection. The
data collected from Annual Reports, Sustainability and CSR report of the Companies, Director’s Report,
Notes to accounts, Schedule of accounts and Auditors report which was taken from Companies official
website and from Moneycontrol.com website for the year 2014 to 2017.
D. Data analysis: To find out the impact of CSR on financial performance of India’s top 10 companies for
sustainability and CSR, simple regression model is used in which Corporate Social Responsibility as
dependent variable and PBT, ROCE, ROE, & ROA as independent variable. The SPSS version 20 was used
to analyse the data collected and the confidence level for the present study has been taken as 90%, 95% and
99% to ascertain accurate result.
The above table shows that all selected companies taken for the study are in an average meeting the
prescribe 2% of their average net profit towards CSR, except TATA Power, Shree cements, Ultratech Cement
and Mahindra & Mahindra for the financial year 2014 to 2017 which is the result of New Companies Act, 2013.
The result shows that Ambuja Cement is highest contributor towards CSR activities that is, 3.94 crores for the
year
2014-15 in an average.
Figure 1: Percentage of CSR contribution of selected Top 10 performing CSR companies in India for the
year 2014-17.
The above graph shows the percentage of CSR contribution of the selected companies for the year
2014-17. The result evident that, all selected companies are meeting atleast 2% of their average Net profit which
was prescribed percentage under Section 135 of the New Companies Act, 2013, in which Ambuja cement is the
highest contributor towards CSR activities in the year 2016 (i.e., 6.12 crores).
The result shows that ACC cement and ITC companies is having high positive impact of CSR on Profit before
tax (PBT). The overall result shows that CSR is positively affecting Profit before tax.
The result shows thatShree cements, Reliance Industries Ltd, Ultratech Cement, Mahindra & Mahindra
and ITC companies is having high positive impact of CSR on Return on Asset (ROA). When CSR contribution
increases ROA also increases and vice versa. The overall result shows that CSR is positively affecting Return
on assets.
The result shows that Shree cements Reliance Industries Ltd, Ultratech Cement, Mahindra &
Mahindra,Ambuja cementand ITC companies is having high positive impact of CSR on Return on equity (ROE)
at 1% significant level. When CSR contribution increases ROE also increases and vice versa. The overall result
shows that CSR is positively affecting Return on equity.
The result shows that Shree cements, Ultratech Cement, Mahindra & Mahindra and ITC companies is
having high positive impact of CSR on Return on Capital Employed (ROCE). When CSR contribution increases
ROCE also increases and vice versa. The overall result shows that CSR is positively affecting Return on capital
employed.
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