Question : Impact of CSR Scheme

(a) the details of the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) scheme in respect of development and upliftment of the society;

(b) whether it is achieving the goal and serving the purpose set by the Government at the time of its inception or it failed the idea and if so, the details thereof;

(c) the total amount spent under CSR scheme in the country during the last five years;

(d) the name of top 100 corporate houses/ companies/ individuals which are leading in carrying out welfare work through CSR;

(e) whether the Government is monitoring and reviewing the CSR scheme systematically; and

(f) if so, the detail thereof and if not, the reason therefor?

MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF STATISTICS AND PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION; MINISTER OF STATE (INDEPENDENT CHARGE) OF THE MINISTRY OF PLANNING AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS [RAO INDERJIT SINGH]

(a) & (b): The philosophy of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is to engage corporates as partners in the socio-economic development of the country by leveraging their managerial efficiency, best practices, technology and innovation in the delivery of public good and services. Since the enactment of CSR provision w.e.f. April 2014, companies are responding positively and have shown encouraging signs in adopting the culture of being responsible towards society. This is manifested through the increase in CSR spent by the companies during the period 2014-15 to 2020-21. During this period, companies have spent around Rs.1.09 lakh crores in different activities such as health, education, poverty eradication, hunger, women empowerment, welfare of armed forces veterans, environment, sports, rural development, slum development, welfare of weaker sections, disaster management, research and development in the field of science, technology, engineering and medicine etc.

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(c) & (d): The CSR architecture is disclosure based and CSR mandated companies are required to file details of CSR activities annually in MCA21 registry. All data related to CSR, including name of the companies are available in the public domain at www.csr.gov.in. On the basis of filings made by the companies in the MCA21 registry till 30.09.2021, a cumulative amount of Rs. 85,109.09 crores has been spent by companies under CSR during the financial years 2016-17 to 2020-21. Out of that, Rs. 46,654.52 crores have been spent by the top 100 companies during the same period.
(e) & (f): The Government provides the broad framework of CSR through Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 (Act), Schedule VII of the Act and Companies (CSR Policy) Rules, 2014. Under the Act, CSR is a Board driven process and the Board of the company is empowered to plan, decide, execute and monitor the CSR activities of the company based on the recommendation of its CSR committee. Thus, the responsibility of monitoring the implementation of CSR policy lies with the Board of the concerned company. The Government monitors the compliance of CSR provisions through the disclosures made by the companies in the MCA21 registry.
However, to create an enabling environment and effective implementation of CSR activities by the companies, the Government have been taking various initiatives by amending various provisions related to CSR and issuing clarifications, guidelines, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) from time to time. The Government constituted two High-Level Committees to review the CSR framework. The Committee recommended various measures to improve the CSR ecosystem. A National CSR Data Portal was launched for driving accountability and transparency of CSR disclosures of the companies by making the portal accessible to general public. Further, the National CSR Awards have been instituted to recognize the companies that have made a positive impact on the society through their innovative and sustainable CSR initiatives.
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