The Legal Roots of Responsibility: CSR Laws and Corporate Ethics

The Legal Roots of Responsibility: CSR Laws and Corporate Ethics

Mitali Gour

Mayank Kumar Sahu

ABSTRACT

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) connotes the responsibility of a business towards social welfare and an ethical approach to sustainable developments along with profit enhancement. The paper aims at critically observing how CSR relates with law and proposes a comparative study of CSR structures across those nations. Special attention has been paid to India's Companies Act, 2013, which made CSR mandatory for most companies, thus giving it an edge over other countries where CSR remains generally a voluntary responsibility. It covers the main challenges and controversies of CSR as a mandatory piece of legislation; for example, the variations in the approaches by private and public companies in the implementation of CSR. The research weighs the impact CSR laws have on corporate governance, customer satisfaction, and corporate reputation and stakeholder relations. Based on the broad flexibilities that include the potential misuse in the regulation of CSR, the paper brings forward an idea putting forward increased transparency and accountability. In summary, the findings suggest sending recommendations to policymakers, businesses, and stakeholders that there is an urgent need to strengthen auditing measures, exert greater oversight on the integrity of third-party implementers, and conduct impact assessments both before and after the implementation of projects. Findings have especially focused on issues in the global business environment concerning ensuring CSR as an ethical and legal obligation for business success, trust building, and sustainability.

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR Laws, Corporate Ethics, Customer Satisfaction, Legal Framework, India's Companies Act, Corporate Governance.