Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables and Maps
- List of Abbreviations
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 CSR, Functional Differentiation, and the Problem of Economic Responsiveness
- 3 Economic Differentiation and the Rise of India's ‘Embedded’ Corporate Capitalism
- 4 Increasing Functional Differentiation and the Rise of CSR
- 5 CSR at Work: Economic Responsiveness through Risk Management
- 6 India's CSR Public Policies and the Politics of Economic Responsiveness
- 7 Conclusion
- References
- Index
4 - Increasing Functional Differentiation and the Rise of CSR
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 April 2019
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Tables and Maps
- List of Abbreviations
- Preface
- 1 Introduction
- 2 CSR, Functional Differentiation, and the Problem of Economic Responsiveness
- 3 Economic Differentiation and the Rise of India's ‘Embedded’ Corporate Capitalism
- 4 Increasing Functional Differentiation and the Rise of CSR
- 5 CSR at Work: Economic Responsiveness through Risk Management
- 6 India's CSR Public Policies and the Politics of Economic Responsiveness
- 7 Conclusion
- References
- Index
Summary
As the previous chapter has shown, until the early 1980s, the role of corporate profit-making in the functioning of the Indian economy was limited by various institutional settings. After peculiar conditions during the emergency rule under Indira Gandhi (1975–1977), followed by two years of ineffective policy-making under a government based on a heterogeneous coalition, the return to power of Indira Gandhi in 1980 marked the beginning of a new period for India's political economy. This period, which is still ongoing, is characterized by four interrelated trends:
A gradual shift from the interventionist regime to ‘pro-business’ economic development policies
A greater operational focus of companies on financial returns on investment
Growing contention on the impacts of corporate conduct on non-profit values and interests framed under the essentially contested concept of ‘development’
A rapid expansion of the CSR phenomenon
The present chapter provides an empirical analysis of these four interrelated trends, which are investigated in more detail in Chapters 5 and 6.
Economic reforms and the ‘pro-business’ tilt of India's economic development policies
Indira Gandhi is known as a political leader who was obsessed with securing her own power and position both within the Congress Party and within the state apparatus. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, this motive had led her to assert her autonomy against rural elites, which exerted significant control over the Congress Party, as well as over regional and local politics. To counterbalance this loss of a powerful support base, Indira Gandhi had crafted a rhetorical – and partly political – alliance with left-wing political forces. Under the slogan garibi hatao (war on poverty), this alliance was framed as a ‘pro-poor’ movement that would defend the masses against predatory agrarian exploitation and big-business capitalism.
After the emergency rule (1975–1977), followed by a massive electoral defeat of the Congress and two years of ineffective coalition government under the Janata Party, Indira Gandhi returned to power in 1980. At this point, however, garibi hatao was not a suitable political strategy anymore. The authoritarian turn of Indira Gandhi and her ruthless oppression of trade unions and political activists during the emergency had alienated the support of left-wing political forces.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019