Vedic theory of debts and CSR, legal regulations and CSR initiative by Maharatna company - Gail (India) Ltd

Hindu scriptures say that every human being is born into five important debts that are Deva Rin, Rishi Rin, PitraRin, NriRin, BhutaRin and one has to repay these Karmic Debts to follow the path of DHARM in their lifetime. The thoughts of Vedic literature are important and worthy for corporate sector and businessman in the modern context on the subject of ethics and social responsibility, because they tell us that CSR is not a charity and philanthropy but our Duty/Dharma to follow. The debt theory cautions the corporate that they need to be indebted in their life time. Most of the businessman/industrialist are differing from the Noble prize winner Milton Friedman’s view on CSR that a company should have no "social responsibility" to the public or society because its only concern is to increase profits for itself and for its shareholders and the thought of as we take so much from the environment around us, a moral obligation remains to repay to the society what is growing at the pace. That is the reason, businesspersons like, Azim Premji, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, Shiv Nadaretc giving substantial amount of their personal wealth for society. It has been very well understood by Government that they alone will not be able to succeed in its endeavor to uplift the downtrodden society, hence Indian Parliament passed the legendary bill making CSR mandatory for companies. Review of literature on CSR provides a gap of not understanding the CSR from the perspectives of Vedic theory of Debt which inspire to give back to society as a part of one’s duty not the charity or philanthropy. This paper makes an attempt to understand and elaborate how five debts theory of Hindu Scriptures is relevant to CSR and tries to provide an insight of various Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives taken by Maharatna company GAIL (India) Ltd in conformance of the CSR regulations.