Lok Sabha Question No. 4343 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-03-22
Subject: Performance of CSR
Ministry: CORPORATE AFFAIRS
Asked by: Bhartruhari Mahtab

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4343 ANSWERED ON MONDAY THE 22 nd  MARCH, 2021/ CHAITRA 1, 1943 (SAKA)

## PERFORMANCE OF CSR

## QUESTION

4343. SHRI BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB:

Will the Minister of CORPORATE AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

कारपोरेट कार्य मंत्री

- (a) whether the performance of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities of profit-making, public and private sector companies has been satisfactory during each of the last three years and the current year;
- (b)  if  so,  the  details  of  the  schemes  under  which  companies  are  engaged  in  CSR activities;
- (c)  whether  the  said  companies  are  adhering  to  the  guidelines  issued  by  the Government;
- (d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor along with the mechanism to monitor CSR activities of such companies by the Government; and
- (e)  whether  any  violation  of  the  guidelines  and  misuse  of  funds  have  been  reported during the said period and if so, the details  thereof along with  the corrective steps taken/being taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR FINANCE

AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS                                              (SHRI ANURAG SINGH THAKUR) वित्त एिं कारपोरेट कार्य  मंत्रालर् में राज्र् मंत्री ( श्री अनुराग स ंह ठाक ु र )

- (a) to  (e):  The  Government  provides  the  broad  framework  for  Corporate  Social Responsibility  (CSR)  through  Section  135  of  the  Companies  Act,  2013  ('Act'), Schedule VII of the Act and the Companies (CSR Policy) Rules, 2014.  Schedule VII indicates the activities that can be undertaken by the companies as eligible CSR activities. Further, Ministry of Corporate Affairs vide General Circular no. 21/2014 dated 18th June, 2014 clarified that items mentioned in Schedule VII are broad based and can be interpreted liberally. CSR is a Board driven process and the Board of the company is empowered to plan, decide, execute and monitor CSR activities of the company based on the recommendation of its CSR Committee.

The  CSR  architecture  is  disclosure  based  and  CSR  mandated  companies  are required to file details of CSR activities annually in MCA21 registry. All data related to CSR filed by companies in MCA21 registry including state-wise, sector-wise and

company-wise is available in public domain at www.csr.gov.in. The existing legal provisions such as mandatory disclosures, accountability of the CSR Committee and the Board, provisions for statutory audit of accounts of the company etc. provide sufficient safeguards for implementation of CSR by the companies. Whenever any violation  of  CSR  provisions  is  reported,  action  against  such  non-compliant Companies  are  initiated  as  per  provisions  of  Companies  Act,  2013  after  due examination  of  records  and  following  due  process  of  law.  Further,  sanction  for prosecution  has  been  accorded  in  366  cases.  All  CSR  related  default  are compoundable. So far, 148 applications for compounding have been made and 75 cases have been compounded.

On the basis of filings made by the companies in the MCA21 registry, the CSR spent by various public and private sector companies during the last three financial years are given below:

| Nature of Company                 | FY 2017-18       | FY 2017-18             | FY 2018-19       | FY 2018-19             | FY 2019-20       | FY 2019-20             |
|-----------------------------------|------------------|------------------------|------------------|------------------------|------------------|------------------------|
| Nature of Company                 | No. of companies | Amount Spent (INR Cr.) | No. of companies | Amount Spent (INR Cr.) | No. of companies | Amount Spent (INR Cr.) |
| Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) | 535              | 2,704.32               | 609              | 3,835.50               | 14               | 438.29                 |
| Non-PSUs                          | 20,915           | 11,185.53              | 24,323           | 14,819.32              | 1,061            | 7,384.21               |
| Grand Total                       | 21,450           | 13,889.85              | 24,932           | 18,654.82              | 1,075            | 7,822.50               |

(Data upto 30.09.2020) [Source: National CSR Data Portal]

As per the Act, companies are required to hold Annual General Meeting (AGM) within six  months  from  the  end  of  financial  year.  Thereafter,  financial  statements  and board report containing disclosure about CSR, are to be filed in the MCA21 registry within 30 days of the AGM. Thus, for the ongoing financial year no filing has been made by the CSR mandated companies.

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