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Exploring new horizons in CSR
By Vikas Goswami, Head of the Godrej Group’s Good & Green programme
Vikas Goswami, who heads CSR & Sustainability (Good & Green) for the Godrej Industries
Group, shares wisdom from her 21-year career in CSR, and vision for the years ahead.
“CSR is not a question of how you spend
your money; it is a question of how you
make your money,” says Vikas
Goswami, who as Head of CSR &
Sustainability (Good & Green) for the
Godrej Industries Group , drives the
corporate major’s determined efforts to
achieve its CSR goals. A pioneer in the
CSR domain, Dr. Goswami is of the
belief that corporate social
responsibility should be part of a
company’s ethos and embedded in its
business processes, instead of being
reduced to just a mandatory expense or
a compliance factor that involves only
shelling out funds. “CSR is a business
imperative, and not a societal
imperative,” says Dr. Goswami, sitting
in her busy office on the fourth floor of
Godrej One, the group’s energy-efficient
headquarters, chalking out the agenda
for the group’s CSR forays in the years
to come.
The early days
Back in 1996, when the very concept of
CSR was in a nascent stage, Dr.
Goswami had the opportunity to work
with international organisations and
development agencies that moulded
her career as a CSR professional. “While
working on a project with ActionAid, I
got exposure to the funding-side of
development work. Those were early
days when CSR was considered as just
charity,” recalls Dr. Goswami, adding
that it was during a stint with British-
bilateral DFID, when she was associated
with a research on ‘Rise of CSR in India’
while studying at The University of
Wales, that she got an academic insight
into the field. Over the years, her
passion for CSR saw her involvement
with leading organisations, NGOs and
agencies, which honed her into a CSR
stalwart with rich practical knowledge
and theoretical underpinnings.
In the early years, it was always a
challenge for her to educate corporates
that CSR was not about giving funds for
a cause or charity. “Some people go to
the temple and donate money to
assuage their guilt after wrongdoings.
CSR is not about making good for
wrongdoings in business; the business
process should be fair and it’s perfectly
okay for corporations to make fair
profits,” says Dr. Goswami, adding that
CSR should be aligned to the interests
of all stakeholders, and the
commitments towards the community.
As consultant in the corporate sector
for years, she has advised companies
and NGOs on how to approach CSR. And
the process of gaining and sharing
knowledge continues till date. While on
one hand, she is into the last semester
of the Harvard Sustainability Certificate
course, on the other hand she is
delivering talks on CSR at IIMs.