CSR Spending in India is to Go up by Rs 27,000 Crore per year
MUMBAI: Corporate social responsibility spending in India is set to shoot up by around Rs 27,000 crore per year, with the Companies Bill making CSR mandatory for corporates above a certain threshold.
At a workshop on CSR, ‘Learning by Doing’, organised in Mumbai recently, participants noted that CSR would prosper at the expense of the broader community, resulting in an adversarial relationship between business and society.
Though CSR helps inspire leaders and businesses to reconnect with society to the mutual benefit of both, Bhaskar Chatterjee, CEO, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, noted that less than 1 per cent of corporate India actually has a CSR Committee Board, of which just one per cent has a CSR Committee in which there is an independent Director.
“The statistics are pathetic. But, this shows where CSR stands on the boardroom agenda,” he told the gathering.
The New Companies Bill, when it becomes an Act, will mandate the corporate world to institute a CSR Committee comprising three board members, of which one has to be an independent director.
CSR spending is to be made compulsory for companies reporting a profit of Rs 5 crore or more in the last three years.
(The Hindu Business Line)
