Examining the Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility on the Financial Performance of Indian Companies

Abstract

Corporates play a vital role in the economy and are subject to growing expectations from stakeholders. Therefore, it is essential to understand the financial impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on corporates’ activities. This article examines the impact of CSR on 30 Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE)-listed corporate efficiencies by using multi-criteria decision-making models. The article emphasized the technical efficiency of 30 BSE-listed corporates and explored high-efficiency drivers. This study applies multiple methods, that is, data envelopment analysis and free disposal hull, to observe the efficiency rankings of the 30 BSE Index-listed companies for 6 years, that is, 2014–2020. In the second stage, we perform truncated regression analysis to validate our results on the association between CSR and the financial performance of the corporate. The findings suggest that 6 out of 30 corporates are technically efficient (TE = 1) in all frontier approaches. Furthermore, the outcomes portray those three pillars of CSR (i.e., environment, social and governance) are positively correlated with efficiency. Furthermore, it has also been observed that environment and social scores are positively related to return on assets. The findings can be helpful for the stakeholders, policymakers and management of the corporate as a guideline to implement CSR practices.