Companies CSR Spend In 2 Years Crosses Rs18,600

New Delhi (February 3, 2017): As many as 12,431 companies together shelled out more than Rs 18,625 crore towards social welfare activities in the last two financial years, the government said on Friday.

In 2015-16, a total of 5,097 companies spent Rs 9,822.30 crore on CSR with private sector entities accounting for a major chunk. 4,925 private firms incurred CSR expenses of Rs 6,462.10 crore while 172 public sector companies spent Rs 3,360.20 crore, out of the total amount, said Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal to the Lok Sabha.

According to the written reply, 7,334 companies spent a total of Rs 8,803 crore towards CSR works in the 2014-15 financial year. While 7,108 private companies made an expenditure of Rs 6,306 crore, and 226 PSUs spent Rs 2,497 crore.

The figures are based on the number of companies for which data has been compiled by the Ministry. The CSR activities have been taken up by the companies in various sectors including education, health care, sanitation, environmental sustainability, poverty alleviation and skill development.

In a separate written reply, the Minister said that there was no “positive outcome” of deliberations last month on the issue of multi-disciplinary partnership firms. With respect to having such firms, a joint meeting of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) and Institute of Cost Accountants of India was held on 24 January.

“In view of the autonomous nature of each of the institutes and their specific mandates, deliberations amongst them did not result in a positive outcome on the issue of multi-disciplinary partnership,” he said.

As per the Companies Act, 2013, a certain class of profitable companies are required to spend at least 2% of their 3 year annual average net profit towards CSR activities in a financial year. The mandate came into effect on April 1, 2014.