CSR Disclosure Practices: A Study of Top 50 BSE Listed Companies in India during Mandatory Regime

Corporate Philanthropy is not a recent phenomenon in India. This voluntary action has now become mandatory with effect from 1 April, 2014. The Companies Act, 2013 mandates companies‘ meeting certain threshold to spend atleast 2% of its average profits of three years immediately preceding current financial year towards CSR activities. In the light of above, this paper studies the extent of corporate social responsibility disclosure by the top 50 Indian companies as per market capitalization listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange for the transition period 2014-15 using Content analysis. Company wise score has been calculated. The result reveals that mean CSR disclosure score for Indian companies is satisfactory at 60%. The mean CSR disclosure score of Mahindra & Mahindra is the highest while of United Spirits is the lowest. The mandatory provisions seem to have bolstered the inclusion of Indian companies in CSR.