This case study presents a highly successful company which has climbed the ladder of success, not so much in the financial criteria, but in the way it has contributed to the society. The Jaipur-based rugs company, Jaipur Rugs Company Private Limited and its social arm, Jaipur Rugs Foundation, work on a unique business model that talks about CSR as a major dimension embedded within their framework. The model is so successful that even the great business strategy professor and Guru Dr. Prahalad has specially mentioned this company in his best-selling book, Fortune at the Bottom of Pyramid. Indeed, fortune lies at the bottom of the pyramid for the Jaipur Rugs Company, which has enabled and is in continuous process of enabling poor artisans and weavers to become entrepreneurs.

There are many measures of success in the corporate world—turnovers and market share being the major ones. The global business scenario has seen a good deal of corporate governance failures, and the race towards ‘return on investment’ is endless. The recent years have raised the need for environment protection and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) that add new dimensions to the way business is performed. Proactive firms today focus on their ‘triple bottomline’ of three Ps: People, Planet and Profits (Figure 1). In other words, they focus on economic, social and environmental contribution.

CSR tops the ‘to-do’ list of companies nowadays. CSR involves potentially vital implications for the success of a business, and hence, there is an urgent need to understand and address it. The concept of CSR started from extractive industries and supply chain of developing countries, but while the impact has widened, there still exist a major chunk of corporate players who stay unconvinced that CSR is much more than just philanthropy, and a socially responsible business is generally good and beneficial for the business.

The Ministry of Textiles, Ministry of HRD, and Ministry of Rural development, Government of India have undertaken many interventions and projects to improve the situation of skilled artisans in India. The need of the hour is contributory efforts and active participation of corporate India so as to achieve a synergy towards realizing greater benefits.

Corporate Governance Journal, Corporate Governance Reforms, Financial Disclosures, Indian Companies, Financial Sector Reforms, Globalization, Information Asymmetries, Indian Corporate Morality, Market Mechanism, International Financial Reporting Standards, IFRS, Indian Accounting Standards, Economic Development, Financial Accounting Systems, Corporate Control Mechanisms.