{"id":29899,"date":"2026-08-13T11:51:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T06:21:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wowentrepreneurs.in\/index.php\/2026\/08\/13\/responsible-businesses-take-centre-stage-at-13th-national-csr-esg-summit-2026-hosted-by-csr-times\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T11:51:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T06:21:43","slug":"responsible-businesses-take-centre-stage-at-13th-national-csr-esg-summit-2026-hosted-by-csr-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wowentrepreneurs.in\/index.php\/2026\/08\/13\/responsible-businesses-take-centre-stage-at-13th-national-csr-esg-summit-2026-hosted-by-csr-times\/","title":{"rendered":"Responsible Businesses Take Centre Stage at 13th National CSR &amp; ESG Summit 2026 Hosted by CSR Times"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>New Delhi [India], August 13: <\/strong>The 13th National CSR &amp; ESG Summit and Awards 2026 were held in Le M\u00e9ridien, New Delhi, on 04th August. Organised by\u00a0CSR Times, a leading periodical on corporate social responsibility, the summit facilitated critical discussions around the theme\u00a0\u201cRole of Responsible Businesses for Inclusive Bharat.\u201d\u00a0The Summit brought together over cross-sector participation of 500 delegates from Corporates, PSUs, NGOs, foundations, MSMEs \u00a0including business leaders, CSR professionals, ESG leaders and numerous award winners from across India; while thousands joined via live streaming.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Summit was graced by\u00a0Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Hon\u2019ble Union Minister for Culture &amp; Tourism, as the Chief Guest. Guests of honour included\u00a0Shri Pramod Boro,\u00a0Hon\u2019ble Member of Parliament,\u00a0Dr Medha Kulkarni, Hon\u2019ble Member of Parliament,\u00a0Shri Praveen Patel,\u00a0Hon\u2019ble Member of Parliament,\u00a0H.E. Ms. Sena Latif, Ambassador, Embassy of the Republic of Romania to India,\u00a0H.E. Mr. Juan Rolando Angulo Monsalve, Ambassador, Embassy of the Republic of Chile to India,\u00a0H.E. Mr. Chandradath Singh,\u00a0High Commissioner Embassy of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago,\u00a0Mr. Surendra Nath Tripathi, Retd. IAS,\u00a0Formal Director General-Indian Institute of Public Administration,\u00a0Shri Manoj Garg,\u00a0Retd IAS, President All India Business &amp; Community Foundation,\u00a0Dr Vibha Dhawan, Director General, TERI and\u00a0Dr Bhaskar Chatterjee,\u00a0Former Director General and CEO \u2013 Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, Jury Chairman-CSR Times and Bharat ESGS Awards, among other distinguished guests.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hon\u2019ble Union Minister for Culture &amp; Tourism, Shri Gajendra Singh Shekhawat,\u00a0in his address to the vast gathering said:\u00a0\u201cWhen each of India\u2019s 140 crore citizens recognizes and fulfils their own social responsibility, the dream of Viksit Bharat will come true.\u201d\u00a0He highlighted that CSR and ESG are not just corporate commitments, but are instruments of nation-building.\u00a0\u201cESG is a step ahead of CSR. It aligns Indian businesses with global benchmarks while encouraging organizations to create value beyond economic returns through meaningful social and environmental action\u201d,\u00a0he added. Mr. Shekhawat congratulated the winners of CSR awards and applauded their projects towards building an inclusive India.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shri Pramod Boro, Hon\u2019ble Member of Parliament,\u00a0in his keynote address said,\u00a0\u201cSmall interventions but resilient intervention is the way forward\u201d.\u00a0He emphasized that responsible businesses have a vital role to play in changing lives through sustained grassroots interventions. He called for greater support for tribal communities living in forest regions, advocated for the organized development of the organic food sector, and stressed the importance of preserving and promoting indigenous education systems as integral to building inclusive Bharat.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During the summit, the\u00a0CSR Times Awards 2026\u00a0and\u00a0Bharat ESG &amp; Sustainability Awards 2026\u00a0honoured organisations that have demonstrated outstanding commitment to creating sustainable, scalable, and measurable social impact across diverse sectors. In a landmark announcement, CSR Times introduced its highest honour, the\u00a0CSR Times Platinum Award for Best CSR Project 2026, which was presented to NTPC Mouda Super Thermal Power Station. Some of the prominent winners were Bisleri International Private Limited, Reliance Industries Limited, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, India Yamaha Motor Pvt. Ltd., PepsiCo India, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages, Bajaj Electricals Foundation, and DLF Foundation, among others.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The summit also featured the\u00a0Sansad Bharati Awards, honouring\u00a0Shri Praveen Patel, Hon\u2019ble Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha), Phulpur, Uttar Pradesh, and\u00a0Dr. Medha Kulkarni, Hon\u2019ble Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), recognising their outstanding contributions to public service and parliamentary excellence.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The day-long summit featured two thought-provoking panel discussions that brought together distinguished leaders from the corporate, development, and policy sectors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The first panel,\u00a0\u201cHow CSR Can Drive Deep Science Innovations Across the Country,\u201d\u00a0was moderated by\u00a0Mr. Gopalakrishnan Nambi, Head\u00a0\u2013 Outreach, Foundation for Science, Innovation and Development (FSID). The discussion explored how CSR can catalyse scientific research, innovation, academia-industry collaboration, and technology-led social transformation. Joining the discussion were\u00a0Mr. Arvind Chandrasekhar\u00a0\u2013 Head, CSR &amp; Government Affairs, AMD,\u00a0Mr. Atul Choudhari\u00a0\u2013 Chief Technology Officer \u2013 Tata Consulting Engineers,\u00a0Mr. Raj Waghray,\u00a0CEO \u2013 STEM Cell, FSID,\u00a0Ms. Radhika S Rao, Head of Corporate Brand and CSR,Tesco Bengaluru, and\u00a0Dr Binita Verdia, Head-CSR, Zydus Lifesciences.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The post-lunch panel discussion on\u00a0\u201cRole of Responsible Businesses for Inclusive Bharat\u201dmoderated by\u00a0Shri Ratnesh,\u00a0Executive Director, UNGCNI, with\u00a0Mr. Shiddalingesh Ballolli, Program Head,\u00a0SBI Gram Seva,\u00a0Ms. Antara Kapoor,\u00a0Lead \u2013 Social Impact, PepsiCo India,\u00a0and\u00a0Dr. Shabnam Asthana,\u00a0Executive Editor-CSR Times, as panelists, deliberated on how businesses can drive equitable and sustainable growth. The session explored the evolving role of CSR and ESG in fostering inclusive development, empowering underserved communities, strengthening public-private partnerships, and embedding sustainability into core business strategies.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The summit was supported by Co-Sponsor-NTPC; Associate Partners-SECI, SJVN, THDC India Limited, Bank of India, BPCL, LIC, REC Limited, Engineers India Limited, HPCL, and NHPC; Deep Science Innovation Partner-Foundation for Science, Innovation and Development (FSID), Knowledge Partner-TERI, Outreach Partner-UN Global Compact Network India, and Telecast Partner-ET NOW. The event concluded with a renewed commitment from all stakeholders to strengthen partnerships, champion responsible business practices, and drive sustainable and inclusive development across the nation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>If you object to the content of this press release, please notify us at pr.error.rectification@gmail.com. We will respond and rectify the situation within 24 hours.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New Delhi [India], August 13: The 13th National CSR &amp; ESG Summit and Awards 2026 were held in Le M\u00e9ridien,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29900,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-29899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wowentrepreneurs.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wowentrepreneurs.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wowentrepreneurs.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wowentrepreneurs.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wowentrepreneurs.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wowentrepreneurs.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wowentrepreneurs.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wowentrepreneurs.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wowentrepreneurs.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wowentrepreneurs.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}