This summer, LSE hosted a roundtable bringing together business leaders, practitioners and academics to discuss the business of philanthropy in India.

Click here for an audio recording of the discussion.

Business has never been just about wealth creation in India. Besides being engines of growth, corporations and their founders have long played a role in addressing pertinent social issues. India is set to become one of the world’s leading producers of wealth, and with this prosperity has come renewed scrutiny of the role of businesses in society. The country is also the first to adopt legislation under the Companies Bill 2013 making it mandatory for companies to invest two per cent of their profits in corporate social responsibility.

First philanthropic institution set up by billionaire families, by year of establishment. (Source: Revealing Indian Philanthropy).

In this context, roundtable participants discussed the role of Indian corporations in having social impact and creating a sustainable environment. Noting that individuals and corporations across India support philanthropic endeavours, participants brainstormed how to connect and scale up these efforts. Discussants described how their companies approach CSR and also considered how corporations can integrate corporate social responsibility into mainstream business practices.

Roundtable participants included Mathieu Cantegreil (Knowledge Manager in the Philanthropy and Value-based Investing team at UBS, AG); Dweep Chanana (Director in the Philanthropy and Value-based Investing team at UBS, AG); S. Gopalakrishnan (President of Confederation of Indian Industry); Farhad Forbes (Director of Forbes Marshall Private Limited); Dr Ruth Kattumuri (Co-Director of LSE India Observatory); Alok Kirloskar (Managing Director of SPP Pumps Limited); R. Mukundan (Managing Director of Tata Chemicals Limited); Shankar Vanavarayar (President of Kamaraguru College of Technology).