Lok Sabha Question No. 3534 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-20
Subject: Impact of CSR Scheme
Ministry: CORPORATE AFFAIRS
Asked by: Badruddin Ajmal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3534

ANSWERED ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2021/

AGRAHAYANA 29, 1943 (SAKA)

## IMPACT OF CSR SCHEME

## QUESTION

3534.   SHRI M. BADRUDDIN AJMAL: Will the Minister of CORPORATE AFFAIRS

be pleased to state:

- (a) the details of the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) scheme in respect of development and upliftment of the society;
- (b) whether it is achieving the goal and serving the purpose set by the Government at the time of its inception or it failed the idea and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the total amount spent under CSR scheme in the country during the last five years;
- (d) the name of top 100 corporate houses/ companies/ individuals which are leading in carrying out welfare work through CSR;
- (e) whether the Government is monitoring and reviewing the CSR scheme systematically; and
- (f) if so, the detail thereof and if not, the reason therefor?

## 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): The philosophy of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is to engage corporates as  partners  in  the  socio-economic  development  of  the  country  by  leveraging  their managerial efficiency, best practices, technology and innovation in the delivery of public good and services. Since the enactment of CSR provision w.e.f. April 2014, companies are responding positively and have shown encouraging signs in adopting the culture of being responsible towards society. This is manifested through the increase in CSR spent by the companies during the period 2014-15 to 2020-21. During this period, companies have spent around Rs.1.09 lakh crores in different activities such as health, education, poverty eradication, hunger, women empowerment, welfare of armed forces veterans, environment, sports, rural development, slum development, welfare of weaker sections, disaster  management, research and development in the field of science, technology, engineering and medicine etc.

(c) & (d): 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,  including  name  of  the  companies  are  available  in  the  public  domain  at www.csr.gov.in. On the basis of filings made by the companies in the MCA21 registry till 30.09.2021, a cumulative amount of Rs. 85,109.09 crores has been spent by companies under  CSR  during  the  financial  years  2016-17  to  2020-21.  Out  of  that,  Rs.  46,654.52 crores have been spent by the top 100 companies during the same period.

(e) & (f): The Government provides the broad framework of CSR through Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 (Act), Schedule VII of the Act and Companies (CSR Policy) Rules, 2014. Under the Act, CSR is a Board driven process and the Board of the company is empowered to plan, decide, execute and monitor the CSR activities of the company based  on  the  recommendation  of  its  CSR  committee.  Thus,  the  responsibility  of monitoring  the  implementation  of  CSR  policy  lies  with  the  Board  of  the  concerned company.  The  Government  monitors  the  compliance  of  CSR  provisions  through  the disclosures made by the companies in the MCA21 registry.

However,  to  create  an  enabling  environment  and  effective  implementation  of  CSR activities  by  the  companies,  the  Government  have been  taking various  initiatives  by amending  various  provisions  related  to  CSR  and  issuing  clarifications,  guidelines, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) from time to time. The Government constituted two High-Level  Committees  to  review the  CSR  framework.  The  Committee  recommended various  measures  to  improve  the  CSR  ecosystem.  A  National  CSR  Data  Portal  was launched  for  driving  accountability  and  transparency  of  CSR  disclosures  of  the companies by making the portal accessible to general public. Further, the National CSR Awards have been instituted to recognize the companies that have made a positive impact on the society through their innovative and sustainable CSR initiatives.

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