CSR in Banks: A comparative study of SBI and ICICI

Abstract

The concept of donations, helping others has existed since the inception of mankind on earth. There had been instances across every part of the world that the richer have come forward to help the underprivileged, to provide basic requirements, to help in
developmental activities, building of hospitals, schools and may such activities. There was no such concept as Social Responsibility, during those days the developmental activities were usually carried out only by the government and the richer section of the society. In the banking sector, several international initiatives are there which are present to ensure adoption of CSR practices in normal business operations and to which India is no exception, several norms, rules and guidelines were passed thereafter. The present study is intended to highlight the various guiding principles for banks in India with special reference to CSR and at the same time the areas focused by banks for implementation of CSR activities. The study is confined to one public sector bank, SBI and one private sector bank, ICICI and comparison of CSR activities of these two banks.