Lok Sabha Question No. 4250 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-27
Subject: CSR Work by PSUs
Ministry: CORPORATE AFFAIRS
Asked by: Vinayak Bhaurao Raut, Omprakash Bhupalsinh alias Pawan Rajenimbalkar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4250

ANSWERED ON MONDAY, MARCH 27, 2023/CHAITRA 6, 1945 (SAKA)

## CSR WORK BY PSUs

## QUESTION

4250.  SHRI VINAYAK RAUT:

SHRI OMPRAKASH BHUPALSINH ALIAS PAWAN RAJENIMBALKAR:

Will the Minister of CORPORATE AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of social welfare works done by Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) under Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) during each of the last five years and  the  current  year  especially  in  Ratnagiri  -  Sindhudurg  and  Dharashir (Osmanabad) of Maharashtra;
- (b) the details of the amount spent on the said works and the number of persons benefited therefrom, location-wise and PSU-wise;
- (c) whether the Government has specified any criteria regarding the allocation and utilization of funds under CSR;
- (d) if so, whether the Government proposes to take any effective steps to ensure spending  of  CSR  funds  especially  in  the  backward  and  Scheduled  Castes dominated areas;
- (e)
- if so, the details thereof; and
- (f) whether the Government has received social audit report for monitoring the CSR activities done by the PSUs and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND  PROGRAMME  IMPLEMENTATION;  MINISTER  OF  STATE  (INDEPENDENT CHARGE)  OF  THE  MINISTRY  OF  PLANNING  AND  MINISTER  OF  STATE  IN  THE MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS

## [RAO INDERJIT SINGH]

(a)  &  (b): All  data related to CSR filed by companies in MCA21 registry, including Development  Sector-wise  and  Company-wise,  is  available  in  public  domain  at www.csr.gov.in.  However, the present CSR filing does not capture the beneficiary-wise details of the CSR projects of the companies. On the basis of annual filings made by companies  in  the  MCA21  registry,  the  CSR  spent  by  Public  Sector  Undertakings (PSUs) in Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg and Dharashir (Osmanabad) district of Maharashtra

-2-

## State during the last five financial years (FY) 2016-17 to 2020-21 is given below:

| Districts   | FY 2016-17   | FY 2017-18   |   FY 2018-19 |   FY 2019-20 |   FY 2020-21 |   Total amount (INR Cr.) |
|-------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------|--------------------------|
| Ratnagiri   | 0.16         | -            |         0.11 |         0.22 |         0.27 |                     0.76 |
| Sindhudurg  | -            | 0.12         |         0    |         1.35 |         0.06 |                     1.53 |
| Osmanabad   | -            | -            |         1.64 |         0.65 |         0.57 |                     2.86 |

(Data upto 30.09.2022)      [Source: National CSR Data Portal]

Further, the companies are required to file the CSR data for the financial year 2021-22 on or before 31.03.2023.

(c) to (e):  Under the Companies Act, 2013 ('Act'), there are no provision for allocation of CSR funds. However, Section 135 of the Act mandates every company having net worth of Rs. 500 crore or more, or turnover of Rs. 1000 crore or more, or net profit of Rs. 5 crore or more during the immediately preceding financial year, to spend at least two per cent of the average net profits of the company made over immediately preceding three financial years towards CSR as per the CSR Policy of the Company.

As per the extant framework, the CSR provisions are applicable across areas or regions including  socially,  economically  and  educationally  backward  areas  of  the  country. Similarly, Schedule VII of the Act enlist the eligible CSR activities. As per Schedule VII, activities such as eradicating hunger, poverty and malnutrition, promoting health care, provisioning of sanitation and safe drinking water, livelihood enhancement projects, measures  for  reducing  inequalities  faced  by  socially  and  economically  backward groups, training to promote rural sports, contribution to any other fund set up by the central  government  for  socio  economic  development  and  relief  and  welfare  of  the schedule  caste,  tribes,  other  backward  classes,  minorities  and  women  etc.  are considered as eligible CSR activities.

Moreover, as per the input provided by Department of Public Enterprises (DPE), it has been issuing guidelines from the financial year (FY) 2018-19 to all the administrative Ministries and Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) for adopting a theme-based focussed  approach  every  year  regarding  CSR  expenditure  by  the  CPSEs.  These guidelines,  inter-alia,  provide  that  CSR  expenditure  for  such  thematic  programmes should be around 60% of annual CSR expenditure of the CPSEs and the aspirational districts as identified by NITI Aayog may be given preference while undertaking CSR activities.

(f):  No, Sir.  Under the CSR framework, there is no provision for filing of social audit report by companies.

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