In 2015, fresh from his MBA and thrust into the chaos of Uttarakhand’s flood-ravaged schools, Bijay Chowdhury rebuilt not just classrooms but community resolve, marking the start of a decade-long journey in CSR that now leads Asia Pacific philanthropy at Synopsys Inc. Born in Bokaro, Jharkhand, this seasoned development professional brings over 10 years of hands-on experience across pharmaceuticals, IT giants, and management consulting firms. 

His career began with an MBA in rural management from Xavier Institute of Social Service in Ranchi in 2013, a time when the social sector was largely unorganized and evolving. Companies had just introduced CSR provisions under Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013, enforced in 2014. This mandates firms meeting financial thresholds to spend 2% of average net profits on activities like education, health, and rural development near operational areas.

Chowdhury deliberately chose this unconventional path, available at only 2-3 institutes nationwide, over traditional MBAs. They embraced it as a purposeful pursuit amid low-paying NGO placements rather than settling for conventional streams.

Entering the CSR Frontier

“The pay in this sector is very low compared to other streams because at that time the only placements were NGOs,” says Chowdhury, reflecting on the early opportunities. “Luckily, in 2014 the ministry enforced the CSR mandate, and we were all excited because it meant new avenues would open for us,” shares Chowdhury, in conversation with The Logical Indian.

This shift had propelled him into action. In 2015, he joined Jubilant Bhartia Foundation, immersing himself in planning and executing CSR activities and later advancing through strategic roles. 

Philosophy of Sustainable Impact

At the core of Chowdhury’s approach lies a profound belief in empowerment over handouts. “I always believe in empowering people rather than just giving. Giving provides satisfaction for a very short time, but empowering gives people the ability to survive on their own,” he explains while reflecting on his personal journey.

Chowdhury recalls crucial advice from his seniors when entering the industry: “Don’t attach yourself to the beneficiaries.” This guidance reshaped his perspective. It warned that emotional attachment narrows focus to immediate relief for individuals. Such attachment fosters ignorance of broader deprivation and limits interventions to people rather than the entire ecosystem.

Instead, it urged prioritizing root causes, particularly for women and people with disabilities, to ensure systemic change. “If there are 100 deprived people today, there shouldn’t be 1,000 tomorrow,” he stresses. He adds that a delicate balance is needed between leadership expectations and ground realities, where transparency trumps unachievable targets, and beneficiary voices drive solutions: “Everything comes from the beneficiaries.”

Ground Challenges and Key Projects

Chowdhury’s fieldwork reveals the grit of CSR implementation, with initiatives unfolding methodically to build lasting resilience. Shortly after joining Jubilant, “the day we arrived we were asked to leave for Uttarakhand to do a project with the CII Foundation,” recalls Chowdhury, following the devastating 2013 cloudburst that ravaged schools across 8 blocks, leaving educational infrastructure in ruins.

Teams rebuilt the schools, but the real hurdle was student retention in rural areas. “In rural areas, if there is a pause, you have to make a lot of efforts to resume,” he notes, as communities easily disengage without sustained efforts. Companies invested heavily in continuity programs, while Chowdhury identified untapped potential: “We also discovered that there was a lot of potential in the community members, not just in education. They had skills but were idle, so I thought it was my personal responsibility to empower these people,” he adds while talking to The Logical Indian.

Another pivotal effort involved upskilling 150 transgender individuals. Initially aiming for 100 placements, the target was revised to 75 after encountering hesitancy; many viewed sex work as easy money and resisted alternatives despite advocacy. “We revised our target because it is necessary to be real and transparent,” says Chowdhury. This realism bridged company ambitions with on-ground feasibility.

In Telangana’s diminishing pre-loom sector, Chowdhury and his team focused on women. Training them to produce threads in-house, with expertise from a Padma Shri awardee, eliminated purchasing costs and saved ₹4,500 monthly per household. These savings were transformed into earnings through garment sales, while elevating women’s decision-making roles at home. “Unfortunately, this happens not just in underserved communities but in all regions. The earning member often has the final authority in a household,” observes Chowdhury. The model proved replicable, blending cost reduction with income generation.

Two years ago in Hyderabad, he championed the ‘Hope in a Cup’ cafe for 20 LGBTQI individuals, providing training and seed funding. Beneficiaries planned the menu, featuring intercontinental dishes, mocktails, and ₹377 combos, symbolizing Article 377. They also painted the walls themselves, fostering ownership. Now self-sustaining and replicated widely, it exemplifies success: “If a model has replicability, it’s successful,” says Chowdhury.

Spongeparks represent another innovative thrust. Inspired by China’s sponge city concept, these engineered green spaces absorb, filter, store, and slowly release excess rainwater through permeable pavements, rain gardens, mini ponds, infiltration wells, and native vegetation. They mimic natural wetlands to combat urban flooding, recharge groundwater, and create recreational areas, deployed in cities like Chennai, Ahmedabad, and Bengaluru. Chowdhury spearheaded two such parks, costing ₹1 crore, tackling India-specific challenges like distinguishing sewer from groundwater pipes to prevent contamination.

Yet scalability remains a core CSR limitation: time-bound projects with finite funds can’t meet city-wide needs. For instance, Noida requires 15-16 parks, necessitating government intervention for policy alignment, funding, land allocation, and infrastructure integration beyond corporate capacities.

Navigating CSR’s Broader Hurdles

The CSR landscape is rife with challenges, from duplicated efforts where companies mimic peers, to regional disparities and increasing political pressures framing development as competition despite central oversight. A 2025 report reveals that 60% of the ₹29,989 crore spent in 2022-23 was concentrated in six states: Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, and Gujarat.

This sidelined underdeveloped regions like Jharkhand, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, and the Northeast, which received under 20%. Investments flock to these states due to a misinterpretation of CSR rules encouraging companies to prioritize areas around their operational locales, combined with logistical ease near industrial hubs, established NGO ecosystems, resource constraints for remote deployments, and compliance familiarity.

In low-CSR zones, NGO and community-based organization (CBO) partnerships shine, leveraging local trust and resourcefulness to foster ownership without eroding it through external dependencies. “Corporate India is not ready to work with CBOs because they have their own limitations,” observes Chowdhury. Still, he affirms, “NGOs are the backbone of development in India; there is no CSR without NGOs,” as building in-house teams proves fund-intensive.

Success hinges on leadership viewing CSR beyond cost, toward accountability, with CEOs engaging beneficiaries to inspire employees: “One thing common in most successful organizations is the community giving feeling, to actually make a change,” says Chowdhury. Chowdhury’s decade-plus experience across companies like Deloitte, KPMG, HP has exemplified this, transforming an unconventional entry into scalable, empathetic impact, proving that true progress lies in empowerment, collaborative ecosystems, and unwavering focus on root causes.

The Logical Indian Perspective

At The Logical Indian, we celebrate stories like Bijay Chowdhury’s that embody logical, evidence-based social change, proving CSR thrives not through handouts or hype, but replicable empowerment models tackling root causes like urban floods via Spongeparks and transgender upskilling, encouraging corporates to adopt accountable, inclusive, and sustainable development strategies beyond concentrated regional spends.

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