The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has issued FAQs, dated August 25, 2021, on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) given the recent significant changes in carrying out the CSR activities introduced vide the Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Amendment Rules, 2021.
The broad framework of CSR has been provided in Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 (the Act), Schedule VII of the Act and Companies (CSR Policy) Rules, 2014 (the CSR Rules).
“Further, the Ministry had also issued clarifications including FAQs from time to time on various issues concerning CSR.”, MCA said.
Several significant developments have taken place since then. The Ministry has notified the amendments in Section 135 of the Act as well in the CSR Rules on 22nd January 2021 intending to strengthen the CSR ecosystem, by improving disclosures and by simplifying compliances.
In response to such amendments, the Ministry has received several references and representations from stakeholders seeking clarifications on the various issues related to CSR, the MCA said.
Accordingly, in suppression of clarifications and FAQs issued vide General Circular no. 21/2014 (dated 18th June 2014), 36/2014 (dated 17th September 2014), 01/2016 (dated 12th January 2016),05/2016 (dated 16th May 2016), the clarification issued vide letter dated 25.01.2018 and General Circular no. 06/2018 (dated 28th May 2018), a set of FAQs along with the response of the Ministry is provided for better understanding and facilitating effective implementation of CSR.
