IIITH’s social incubator hosts Roundtable on Unlocking CSR for Startup Innovation in India
Hyderabad: AIC-IIIT Hyderabad, the Social-Tech Incubator of IIIT Hyderabad, hosted a roundtable discussion on 25th September 2025 titled “Unlocking CSR for Startup Innovation in India” along with Artha Samarth Consultancy. The event, held at the IIITH campus, brought together 15 participants from a diverse range of stakeholders, including industry associations, corporate leaders, startup incubators, and experts, to address the persistent gap in channelling Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds into startup innovation.
A recent AIC-IIITH publication, “Less than 0.2% CSR Powered Innovation: A Missed Opportunity to Amplify Impact,” highlighted this missed opportunity as innovation is a well-established way to create scalable, sustainable social impact. Despite being a nation of over 90,000 registered startups and nearly 1,000 incubators, India allocates less than 0.2% of its annual CSR funding to startup innovation.
Key Discussion Points
The roundtable examined why a significant portion of India’s annual CSR funding often bypasses startup innovation. Discussions focused on several key areas:
Bridging the Disconnect: Participants delved into the structural and cultural barriers hindering CSRs’ engagement with startups, such as a lack of leadership buy-in, information asymmetry, and the pressure for short-term, visible outcomes.
Mainstreaming Innovation: The dialogue centred on who could lead ecosystem-level coordination and the potential for platforms, government bodies, and incubators to create matchmaking infrastructure and knowledge-sharing spaces.
Policy and Regulatory Clarity: The group examined whether the legal allowance for CSR funding of incubators is widely understood and if current policy signals are strong enough to build confidence and lower perceived risks for corporations.
The roundtable featured a diverse mix of 15 participants dedicated to advancing social impact through innovation, including from industry associations like ASSOCHAM and South India’s CSR Summit, Experts and Stakeholders from MSME Institute, NICE.org, and TG10x, CSR Leaders from Carrier, Titan, EPAM, and Qualcomm and representatives of startup Incubators & Accelerators like WE Hub, CIE-IIITH, and Bala Vikasa.
Ravi Sarkunan, CEO of AIC-IIITH, remarked, “Unlocking CSR for startup innovation is not just about funding; it is about building a robust ecosystem where technology can help solve our most critical social challenges. This roundtable is a crucial step towards aligning corporate intent with impactful, innovation-led solutions that can drive lasting change for a better India.”
Abhishek Ranjan, Chairman of ASSOCHAM’s Sustainability Council and Joint Secretary of UNGC India, emphasised that culture plays a critical role in shaping how CSR funds are allocated, noting that CSR is still largely perceived through a legal or HR lens. Echoing this perspective, Emmanuel Gosula from EPAM added that CSR funding for innovation is most effective when it aligns with a company’s culture. He highlighted that software firms, with their strong engineering ethos, are naturally inclined to support startup-driven innovation—one of the key reasons why EPAM has extended its support to such programs.
