Corporate Social Responsibility Practices and Its Implementation after the Legal Mandate: A Study of Selected Companies in India with Special Emphasis on the Mining Sector

Mining operationsMining operations frequently involve a high degree of environmental and social impacts and hence categorized under Red category according to Indian Ministry of Forest and Environment Environments . It is a very sensitive sector thus requiring the companies of this sector to be very responsive towards its social responsibilitiesSocial responsibilities. The paper investigated the corporate social responsibilityCorporate Social Responsibility(CSR) (CSR Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) ) practices adopted by the selected companies in India belonging to the mining sector, post-2013 Companies Act mandate from 2014–2015 to 2018–2019 and their implementation during the said time period using Longitudinal Qualitative Document Analysis and constructing a Corporate Social Responsibility Index (CSRI)Corporate Social Responsibility Index (CSRI). The study was based on secondary sources, i.e., by analyzing the company’s annual reports. We observed that educationEducation was the most preferred CSR Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) activity undertaken by the companies belonging to the mining sector and the least preferred activity was disaster reliefDisaster relief measures. The study revealed an average CSRI Corporate Social Responsibility Index (CSRI) of 29.66% which happened to be extremely low. A detailed assessment of the overall CSR expenditureOverall CSR expenditure made by the selected Indian companies belonging to the mining sector for the time period 2014–2015 to 2018–2019 showed that the companies have not spent the mandated amounts excepting in the year 2018–2019. Detailed assessment of CSR expenditure activity wiseCSR expenditure activity wise amongst selected Indian companies belonging to the mining sector for the time period 2014–2015 to 2018–2019 showed that CSR Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) expenditure was the highest in the field of educationEducation, followed by healthHealth and rural upliftmentRural upliftment. Despite governmental regulationsRegulations‘and pressure from other stakeholdersStakeholders majority of the companies failed to emphasis concerning areas like energyEnergy, climate changeClimate change, marine and terrestrial ecosystem. Thus strict monitoring and accountabilityStrict monitoring and accountability of the projects undertaken in the name of CSR Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) has to be initiated by the government Governments along with proper encouragement so that the companies become socially responsive.