An index to measure corporate social responsibility

The Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Monday signed a pact to develop India's first corporate social responsibility (CSR) index.

The IICA-BSE CSR Index will assess the impact and performance of companies listed at BSE in CSR activities. The index would also look at the performance of companies in their mandatory CSR spend as per the new Companies Act, 2013 as one of the important and objective criteria. The index would be sector neutral.

There will be an advisory committee, which would guide for CSR index construction and its design. This committee would interact with various stakeholders so that best global practices are aligned to Indian needs as per Section 135, Companies Act 2013, in the index construction and it becomes benchmark index to assess Indian corporates in CSR.

"Transparency is very important and so the companies must disclose their spending and areas of spend on their own websites and the MCA website as well. The IICA and BSE partnership will go a long way on raising the level of awareness and accountability," Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot said at the event.

This CSR Index shall be viewed by all market participants to track the leaders in CSR activities in India.

"The CSR index would seek to promote investor participation, consumer interest and socio-economic benefits to the disadvantaged communities by generating awareness and accountability in CSR spending," Bhaskar Chatterjee, IICA director general, said.