In FY18, as many as 46 per cent of the companies did not report their CSR expenditures and progress.
Around half of the companies operating in India do not report their corporate social responsibility activity to the government, and several companies evade a huge amount of money required to be spent on CSR every year.
In FY18, as many as 46 per cent of the companies did not report their CSR expenditures and progress, according to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Even the companies that report their activity, spend much less than what they must.
Out of the total CSR prescribed of Rs 23,247 crores in FY18, the companies spent only Rs 13,326 crores, which is only 57 per cent of the required expenditure.
The companies which are liable for CSR must have their CSR policies, however out of 21,337 companies that reported itself liable for the CSR expenditure, only 6,326 companies said that they have a CSR policy.
The government states that the objective of CSR is not to mobilise funds from the private bodies but to promote responsible and sustainable business philosophy at a broad level and encourage companies to come up with innovative management ideas to address social and environmental concerns of the local area and other needy areas in the country.
The companies with a net worth of over Rs 500 crores, or a turnover of over Rs 1,000 crores, or a net profit of over Rs 5 crore in the preceding financial year are required to spend 2 per cent of their average net profit of the preceding three years on CSR. The companies are liable to disclose the CSR related details in the Director’s Report every year.
The largest portion of the CSR in India is spent on education, followed by healthcare and rural sustainable projects. Around 37 per cent of the CSR spent is on services related to education, differently-abled, and livelihood, while 29 per cent expenditure is on services related to health, eradicating hunger, poverty, malnutrition, safe drinking water, sanitation, etc.
