Perception of the Stakeholders’ on CSR Practices of Select Banks in Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Social responsibility of business refers to what a business does over and above the statutory requirement for the benefit of the society. The word ‘responsibility’ emphasizes that the business has some moral obligations towards the society. CSR also known as Sustainable Responsible Business (SRB) or Corporate Social Performance is a form of Corporate self-regulation integrated into a business model. Industrialization and commercialization of service sector have explored vivid avenues of progress to a nation but at the flip side it has rooted the use of non-renewable energy sources, global warming, green house gas mission and rising levels of waste which have harmful effects to the generation coming next. The growing concerns for sustainable development, environmental performance, encompassing pollution control and management of natural resources has given mass recognition to the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) now sits at the top of the business agenda. With the greater economic freedom that liberalization brings comes greater responsibilities for business to act as a positive force for development. Leading companies are now expected not just to act ethically in the marketplace, but also to develop their workforce, invest in the community, and sustain the natural environment. Instead of being a constraint on business success, a strategic commitment to CSR has been shown to enhance competitiveness, improve reputation, and build both employee and investor loyalty. In this scenario, it becomes important to have an in-depth and pinpointed study on CSR, specially in an underdeveloped economic structure like India. The aim of this study on corporate social responsibility is to initiate a highly practical discussion among the persons from the worlds of academicians and corporate executives, specially the banking executives, on the Indian model of CSR. This study will showcase best practice from across the country and the globe, and tackle a number of critical issues. The nature of the paper is empirical with a primary data analyzed with some modern econometric techniques like Garrett Ranking.