Businesses have a tremendous social impact. Their positive contributions include generating employment, supporting economic growth, contributing revenue to the government, and developing products and services that address societal needs. The Indian CSR legislation further enables companies to engage directly with community development. Businesses can also have negative social impacts—for instance, by failing to safeguard the health and well-being of employees and workers in their value chains, by providing substandard products and services to consumers, or by harming local communities through environmental pollution. Based on more than a decade of experience in the Social Impact domain—including his current role at the Tata Sustainability Group under Tata Sons, as well as previous roles with an international integrated logistics company and a global consulting firm—Deepak Chincholi takes a deep dive into the ‘S’ in ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) framework. The presentation expands the understanding of a business’s social impact by emphasizing not only community engagement through CSR, but also the effects on other critical stakeholders such as employees, value chain workers, and consumers.
Deepak Chincholi brings over 20 years of progressive experience across corporates, non profits, and academia, with deep expertise in Business & Human Rights (BHR) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). His work includes navigating emerging regulatory expectations such as the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) framework and the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (EU CSRD. His CSR experience spans strategy development, alignment with national priorities and the SDGs, compliance with Section 135 of the Companies Act, programme design, partner due diligence, NGO management, monitoring and evaluation, impact assessments (including Social Returns on Investment), and sustainability communications. He works currently as Deputy General Manager at Tata Sons, a role he has held for the past year. He holds an M.Sc. in Disaster Management from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences and has also completed the UN Global Compact’s Business and Human Rights Accelerator Programme. He also holds a Diploma in Business Management through distance learning.