RIL, Tatas most admired cos for CSR

Corporate behemoth Reliance Industries and two Tata Group firms -- Tata Motors and Tata Steel -- have emerged as the country's most admired companies for their corporate social responsibility initiatives, says a survey.

According to a survey by global consultancy firm, The Nielsen, Reliance Industries is on the top followed by Tata Motors and Tata Steel as the most admired companies by stakeholders for their CSR initiatives.

The companies have been engaged in various CSR activities such as promotion of primary and higher education among adults and economically disadvantaged sections of society, improving health care infrastructure and increasing environmental consciousness in the country.

Interestingly, 86 per cent of the stakeholders feel that countering terrorism should also be taken up by companies under their CSR activities apart from the regular activities in the fields of education, health, infrastructure from corporates.

"Public expectations of corporations are on the increase as stakeholders see significant impact they are having in various spheres, be it education, health infrastructure, environment conservation," The Nielsen Company Associate Director Consumer Research Vatsala Pant said.    

The survey titled "Nielsen India Corporate Image Monitor 2008" was conducted for 27 companies based on their market capitalisation, sales and assets.

The report said CSR is an effective way of "building goodwill" for a company. Over 50 per cent of respondents felt that corporate are honest towards their CSR activities.

But the motive behind these activities is seen to be many, ranging from economic and tax benefits (47 per cent), to enhanced corporate reputation (45 per cent) and to build a competitive advantage (30 per cent), it said.

The Nielsen said top three social issues that stakeholders expect corporates to tackle are better health infrastructure, fighting diseases like HIV AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, cancer and immunisation programs and primary, higher education and adult literacy.

"It is interesting to note that seven out of 10 members of general public are willing to pay a premium for products and services to enable a company fulfill its CSR commitments. Considering impact of CSR activities on a firm's reputation, organisations will have to plot a developmental path for CSR integrating it with the rest of the business," Pant said.