The global extreme poverty rate went up in 2021 after decades of progress, which was halted or reverted as hundreds of millions of people were pushed back into extreme poverty and chronic hunger due to the pandemic. As a result, the absolute number of poor in India also rose. According to the United Nations, 364 million, or 28 per cent of the Indian population lived in extreme poverty in 2019. The World Bank report (2020) says that this number will rise further by another 88-115 million. So, overall, millions of Indians have either become poorer or poor or are on the edge of becoming poor. Therefore, achieving SDGs, in particular – Target 1.1 and 1.2 of the 2030 Agenda, which focus explicitly on addressing poverty in all its dimensions, seems challenging for the government alone. However, unlike Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) result from a process that has been more inclusive than ever, with governments involving business, civil society, and citizens from the beginning. This time, development stakeholders – governments, businesses, civil society, and academia – agree on where the world needs to go. Consequently, corporations in India also have resolved to play a critical role in the process. Corporations have addressed the SDGs as part of their CSR obligations. Firms link CSR activities, post facto, to different SDGs with assumptions that these activities help achieve the relevant goals. Although firms have made efforts, fulfilling those ambitions remains far from reality. While many companies report how they directly or indirectly contribute to other goals, SDG-1 for No Poverty is most common in CSR reports. Almost all CSR reports and corporate presentations claim to have made a positive impact on poverty alleviation. On the contrary, the population living below the poverty line in India has risen since 2018, after making remarkable achievements in poverty reduction between 2006 and 2016. Therefore, companies’ claims on poverty reduction remain contradictory. Moreover, these reports are not evidence-based, measured objectively and quantitatively against the suggested 14 critical indicators of seven targets under SDG-1. Arguably, while such indirect claims may not be ignored, the shallowness of corporate obligations to SDGs cannot be denied either. Further, a qualitative investigation of CSR policies and reports of the Top 20 Indian CSR spenders on the National CSR Portal of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs presents a wide-ranging gap in understanding poverty, approaches, and strategies for addressing SDGs particularly Goal#1 for No Poverty. Also, the analyses provide the account of many ways to suggest corporations improve their commitments to eradicate poverty and help the country achieve targets 1.1 &1.2 of SDG#1. Finally, the analyses reflect on the following findings and suggest companies to convert words into action to help India come out of poverty by 2030. Poverty – misunderstood as an economic challenge: Poverty is a perception invariably linked to people’s economic deprivation, which economists consider an essential determining component for securing human welfare. However, welfare has been perceived differently, and there are many ways to describe and measure poverty. For example, while the UN focuses on poverty measured by monetised consumption and income, academicians and social scientists describe it as basic needs, capabilities, and human rights. These alternative subjective notions are interrelated and indirectly linked to the multidimensional poverty index, including various deprivations, such as poor health, lack of education, and inadequate living standards.
