Empowering Indian Women through Corporate Social Responsibility Way

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has evolved from philanthropy to social responsibility aiming at developing significant positive impact on socially diverse areas of the community, and turning one of the standard business practices in recent time. The mandate of the new Companies Act with specific recommendations of provision for Corporate Social Responsibility has astonished many Indian public and private companies. CSR activities have to be measurable with definite budgets. This has increased the scope for meaningful intervention by corporate India towards combating many problem areas and contributing towards inclusive growth. One such issue of serious importance is Women Empowerment. As quoted in Indian mythology about women, “Yatra Naryastu Pujayante Ramante Tatra Devta” the words had meaning in ancient times when women had high status equal to men of the family, and in society as well. But in current times, it becomes thinkable whether the importance of these words still exists or worship is very far from likelihood of women in society, because plight of Indian women is in daily news and is of utmost concern to government. This conceptual paper based on secondary data aims at analyzing contribution of various companies working explicitly to empower women and improvement noticed in their situation through CSR activities of those companies. This may further help in determining the success and failure of CSR activities performed by the companies according to their reach in society.