Impact of CSR on Financial Performance: An Empirical Study of Publicly Traded Companies in India.

The purpose of this study is twofold: first, it investigates the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on Financial Performance (FP) in BSE listed Indian companies; second, it examines which of the five dimensions selected for the study, viz., Value-Added Measure (VAM), Market Measure (MM), Growth Measure (GM), Earning Measure (EM) and Profitability Measure (PM), plays a mediating role in the relationship between CSR and FP. The sample comprises 471 companies. The data was sourced from CMIE Prowess IQ repository for a period of 5 years from 2015 to 2020. Structural Equation Modeling was administered to study the impact of CSR on each of the five dimensions of FP. The key findings are: (1) CSR has a positive impact on all dimensions of FP; (2) the impact of CSR investment is highest on value added measures; and (3) the positive impact of CSR on FP indicators holds true across primary, secondary and tertiary sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]