Question : Monitoring of CSR

(a) whether the companies of both public and private sectors have mandatorily spent a certain percentage of their profits on welfare development activities as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR);

(b) if so, the details of the amount utilised and major activities/programmes undertaken by various Public Sector and Private Sector Companies including oil exploring companies during the last three years, State/UT-wise including Odisha;

(c) whether any comparative study has been conducted regarding the amount of the fund spent by the private companies and Public Sector Undertakings and if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor;

(d) whether the Government has laid emphasis on the effective implementation of CSR, compliance of CSR norms and if so, the details thereof; and

(e) whether the Government has constituted any Committee/authority/ monitoring mechanism on pre and post implementation of programmes under CSR to ensure proper use of CSR funds and to monitor the activities therein and if so, the details thereof?

MINISTER OF STATE FOR LAW AND JUSTICE
AND CORPORATE AFFAIRS (SHRI P. P. CHAUDHARY)
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(a): Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 (‘the Act’) mandates every company above the specified thresholds of turnover, or net worth, or net profit to spend at least two per cent of the average net profits earned during the three immediately preceding financial years on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities specified in Schedule VII of the Act.
Contd….2/-

-2-
(b)& (c): No study on amount spent on CSR by public or private sector companies has been carried out by this Ministry as statute requires monitoring of CSR by the Board of the Company. However, details of the amount spent as per filings made by companies including oil companies, upto 30.11.2017 in the MCA21 registry for the years 2014-15, 2015-16 and 2016-17, is given in the Table below :

CSR expenditure for the three Financial Years
Sl. No. Company Type Financial Year 2014-15
(in Rs. crore) Financial Year 2015-16
(in Rs. crore) Financial Year 2016-17
(in Rs. crore)
1. PSUs 2673.85 4163.09 1325.83
2. Private Sector Companies 6890.92 9664.77 3393.17
Total 9564.77 13827.86 4719.00

States/UTs-wise and development sector-wise details of the CSR spend by companies are at Annexure I and Annexure II respectively.

(d): Ministry has issued clarificatory circular and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) dated 18.06.2014 and 12.01.2016 respectively to facilitate the effective implementation of CSR provision by companies and professionals. In addition sensitisation workshops have been organised by the Offices of Regional Directors under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to ensure effective compliance of CSR provisions by companies. Ministry has launched the National CSR Data Portal on 19.01.2018 which is a significant step towards driving accountability and transparency in corporate India.

(e): No, Madam.
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