ITC Limited’s Mission Sunehra Kal: Two Decades of Transforming Lives and Landscapes

Abstract

The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) mandate in the Companies Act, 2013 is a relatively recent development that has generated considerable debate between companies, the government, non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the academia regarding its scope, coverage and impact. Given that this legislation is the first in its kind, important lessons can be drawn from the experience of companies like ITC Limited, which has always believed that in the Indian context, it is essential that business corporations come forward and take on a proactive role in ensuring that the development process is inclusive and sustainable, premised on a triple bottom line approach that aligns social, economic and environmental development along with business growth. This paper seeks to contribute to this on-going debate on CSR by documenting and analysing ITC’s two-decade old interventions under the umbrella of its ‘Mission Sunehra Kal’. The paper critically examines the Mission’s alignment to the broad aims of the CSR mandate as legislated in the Act and introduces a few constructive suggestions to initiate a conversation on the future direction of this mandate.