NEW DELHI: According to a recent report, the total spending on corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes by the major 500 business organizations since the applicability of mandatory CSR in the year 2014 is expected to cross Rs 50,000 Cr by March 2019.
The CSR compliance is likely to improve and fall in the range of 97 to 98% by financial year 2019-20, report of independent firm added. The Govt. in 2014 made mandatory for companies to spend 2% of their 3 years average annual net profit on CSR programs in each financial year, starting from FY15.
It revealed that the major 20 firms command over 45% of the prescribed CSR spending. In terms of sectors, education is expected to be the most favoured area of CSR investment in the coming years.
In terms of states, Maharashtra received the biggest chunk of the total CSR fund spent, followed by Rajasthan, Karnataka and Gujarat, together accounting for one third of the total CSR spends, the report said.
The north-eastern states of Nagaland, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Tripura have received lowest CSR funding so far. The report revealed that an upward trend was seen year after year when it comes to CSR compliance, however, the size of funding for an initiative has shown downward movement, suggesting the fact that firms are looking at more number of projects to diversify their CSR spectrum.
It has reported that if the new recommendation by sub-legal committee on CSR, constituted by the ministry of corporate affairs in April 2018, is accepted, then companies will not be allowed to carry forward the unspent CSR fund, which will boost the CSR compliance.
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