Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR): Tata Power invest Rs. 39 Cr against CSR obligation

At Tata Power Company Limited Group level, on a consolidated basis Rs. 39.97 crore was spent in FY20 against annual Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) obligation of Rs. 33.30 crore, the company’s recent annual report revealed.

The Company’s standalone CSR spend for FY20 stood at Rs. 3.80 crore against the 2% CSR obligation of Rs. 3.04
crore.

Average net profit of the company for last three financial years stood at Rs. 152.17 crore.

Pursuant to the provisions of section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 (Corporate Social Responsibility Rules, 2014), during the year the Company ought to have spent Rs. 33.30 crore on CSR activities in accordance with the provisions of Section 198 of the Act.

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The Tata Power is the India’s one of the largest integrated power company having a domestic footprint with a generation capacity of 12,264 MW, which includes 3,883 MW Clean and green energy capacity.

The initiatives under the CSR policy are in addition to the five thrust areas of the CSR programme and focus on the five prime areas of Education, Employability, Employment, Entrepreneurship and Essential Amenities.

“In line with the Tata group ethos, we, at Tata Power, believe in improving the quality of life of our communities and being a neighbour of choice by implementing strategic CSR initiatives.”, said Praveer Sinha, CEO and MD.

“Our CSR initiatives are categorised into five thrust areas through which we also aim to improve the quality of life at the household level. These programmes reach out to 27.10 lakh beneficiaries across 348 villages and 220 urban clusters spanning 15 states. We focus on achieving synergy, scale and simplification for process improvements.”, the company said.

The Corporate Social Responsibility policy guides Tata Power CSR activities. Feedback on CSR programmes are incorporated through independent monitoring and evaluation frameworks that have been adopted to ensure refinement of initiatives, the report said.

“At Tata Power, we have always undertaken initiatives with an aim to improve the quality of life and ensure holistic development of our surrounding communities. Our initiatives focus on diverse, community-based projects and interventions in our effort to build a better and sustainable society through the Tata Power Community Development Trust (TPCDT). Our primary goal is to transform the lives of the community through a result-oriented participatory approach.”, the report said.

Community Engagement Index

The impact of CSR initiatives is measured through the Community Engagement Index (CEI) tool, which is used to determine engagement levels of various stakeholders across the stages of CSR intervention. The CEI survey conducted in FY19 showed 84% achievement against the score of 82% in the previous year. Additionally, the Company has also conducted an Independent Social Return on Investment study for three flagship initiatives, and year-on-year trend analysis indicated an increase in return by Rs 5.04 on every rupee spent (70% improvement on y-o-y basis). The methodology used was based on the global framework of Social Value – The SROI Network, UK.

The CSR Rule in India

As per Section 135 of the Indian Companies Act, 2013, a company, meeting the applicability threshold, needs to spend at least 2% of its average net profit computed as mandated by the Act for the immediately preceding three financial years on CSR activities. The Act prescribes that every company having a net worth of Rs. 500 crore or more, or turnover of Rs. 1,000 crore or more, or a net profit of Rs. 5 crore or more during any financial year shall ensure that it spends, in every financial year, at least 2% of the average net profits computed as mandated by the Act, in pursuance of its CSR Policy.

Rusen Kumar is the founder and managing editor of India CSR. He regularly writes on Sustainability and CSR.

(CopyRight@IndiaCSRNetwork)