**2. Understanding corporate social responsibility**

There is no canonical definition of CSR, which has evolved considerably from its earliest roots in charitable or philanthropic concerns of companies. CSR can now be seen as the 'obligations of business to pursue those policies, to make those decisions or top follow those lines of action which are desirable in terms of the objective and value of the society' [1]. Modern conceptions of CSR owe much to Archie Carroll's "Pyramid of Corporate Social Responsibility" which classifies the four corporate responsibilities. The first and most obvious is the economic responsibility of the company owed to its shareholders to be profitable. The second is the legal responsibility to abide by necessary legal obligations. The third, which is closely linked to the second, is the ethical responsibility to 'embrace those activities and practices that are expected or prohibited by societal members even though they are not codified into law' [2]. The fourth is the philanthropic responsibility of a business, which is the responsibility to be a good "corporate citizen" and contribute resources to the community to improve its quality of life. All of these are responsibilities of the corporate but social responsibility is mainly related to philanthropic and ethical responsibilities, and as Carroll clarifies 'CSR includes philanthropic contributions but is not limited to them… In a sense, philanthropy is icing on the cake' [2].

An imperative aspect of CSR, as evident from Carroll's pyramid, is that CSR implies an understanding that socially responsible actions can operate to the benefit of the business as it may attract many shareholders and also helps in image building and may often lead to certain efficiency improvements [3]. However, CSR cannot be seen as merely legal compliance or a tool for improving business [4]. It is in this context, that one of the foremost issues in relation to CSR emerges, whether CSR should be voluntary or mandatory. Traditionally common definitions and codes on CSR viewed it as voluntarily adopted practices by firms in assuming greater responsibility to stakeholders rather than only shareholders [5]. More recently though, scholars have pressed towards recognition of CSR as transcending voluntary practices and instead there should be a move towards sustainable development where social, environmental and economic agendas play a central role in corporate decision- making [6]. However, a much further move away from voluntary corporate adoption of CSR spending is the so-called mandatory CSR regime that was introduced in India by the Companies Act 2013.
