Kolkata to host global meet on good corporate citizenship

Our Corporate Bureau

Kolkata, Dec 2: The Centre for Social Markets (CSM), a non-government and non-profit organisation, has picked Kolkata for hosting a two-day international conference on “Corporate citizenship - meeting the challenges” on December 4 which is being held for the first time in this country.

The conference will bring into focus the new agenda of corporate citizenship which will be attended by leading players both from India Inc and abroad.

Already corporates abroad are being hauled up by NGOs and the government authorities for failing to keep to basics on ethics and community welfare.

Director Malini Mehra of CSM feels that business is facing challenging times, increased competition, commercial pressure, stiffer regulation, rapidly changing technology and consumer demands.

She says, “The companies have little choice but to be transparent to their stakeholders, committed to their workers and also be responsible for the environment.”

Ms Mehra also pointed out that eleswhere in the west, companies failing to comply with the norms, face a loss of goodwill and also find it difficult to raise funds from financial institutions.