ANNOUNCEMENTS
CSR has become one of the most debated topics after India mandated CSR in the Company Act 2013, with penalties introduced in 2019 to ensure stronger enforcement. An overview of the literature review on the CSR landscape in India shows that the subject matter has remained largely understudied. In addition, studies on the effect of CSR on brand trust using secondary data appear to be virtually negligible. This study aims to fill the gap by analyzing the CSR spending trend in India since 2014. It seeks to identify patterns by state, company and the headquarter location, as well as the relationship between CSR spending and the brand trust. Additionally, it strives to ascertain marketing factors (one of them being CSR) which potentially affect brand trust through a customer survey.
An analysis of CSR spending trend over time using the CSR data published by government-published sources reveals a distinct shift in spending from the education sector to the healthcare sector. It shows differences in state-wise and company-wise CSR spending, with Indian and foreign companies also significantly diverging in spending patterns (differences in the main focus sector, etc.). As the study further indicates, even though CSR spending does not show a significant correlation with brand trust in the case of both Indian and foreign companies, the consumer survey results reveal that CSR and past experience serve as important factors affecting brand trust. This is an important observation that contradicts our initial findings (lack of correlation between CSR spending and brand trust).
The change in the corporate CSR investment trend implies that each state government should prepare their budget allocations in sectors such as education, healthcare, etc. accordingly to reflect this change. During the progression of the study, one can observe a gap between the actual CSR expenditure and consumers’ perceptions on a given company’s CSR activities. This implies that companies are largely lacking an effective strategy related to CSR and its outreach to customers. Overall, this study provides an empirical overview of CSR trends in India and insights into CSR’s impact on brand trust, offering valuable recommendations for both policymakers and companies.
