Studying corporate forms that existed in Ancient India, this study examines the factors behind the establishment of Sreni as an economic, political, financial and legal entity.
Author
Anjana Hazarika, Jindal Global Law School, O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India.
Summary
The paper “The Sreni-Drawing the Legacy of CSR in India” traces the origin of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in India. It examines corporate forms that existed in Ancient India. Though there were number of entities involved in trade and craftmanship during that period but the Srenis remained the most predominant of all.
This study examines the factors behind the establishment of Sreni as an economic, political, financial and legal entity. The Sreni could master over all these spheres because of its governance system. The internal governance mechanism made the Sreni consistent in its organizational system.
A centralized management system, induction methods for new members, apprenticeship process for learning new crafts formed the basis of its prominence in the society. Such aspects of Sreni were crafted in such a manner that despite existence of other systems, it remained as the most significant entity.
The Sreni with its centralized management also created space for democratic functioning. The backbone to all these lies in the Sreni dharma. Public trust and faith cannot be dissociated from the Srenis. Successful performance of their task, maintaining internal coherence, fairness, honest dealing and faithful discharge of their responsibilities and obligation had helped them to have trust over the public. Hence trust and faith of the public added value to Sreni CSR.
Published in: Kaur, Harpreet eds “Facets of Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility in India,” pp 163-180, Springer Singapore.
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