Importantly, FY17 was the third year since CSR spending was made compulsory and the government also seemed to be a little lenient towards implementation of the prescribed limit of spending during the first two years but now things seem to be moving towards a more disciplined regime. First and foremost, huge efforts have made to compile a comprehensive CSR database of all companies registered in India so that companies which are defaulting in terms of CSR spending come under the government radar.
There is no denying the fact that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) is doing commendable work in compiling CSR data. A comprehensive National CSR Portal has been created to compile and compare the CSR related data of individual companies and the way CSR fund is being spent on various projects and in which area of the country. Perhaps due to this vigilant approach of the MCA, companies have started to realise their responsibility towards society. The CSR spending reached the Rs. 13,828 crore-mark during FY16 (by 19184 companies) in comparison to Rs. 9,565 crore spent by 14,994 companies during FY15. In FY17 too, this amount appears to have surpassed the FY16 mark as just 100 prominent companies (as per the data compiled by GDP Magazine) spent Rs. 6,882.72 crore on CSR. “The trend is quite encouraging as companies are now getting a sense of it and coming out themselves to spend on CSR and are also filing the data regarding it. We have sensitised companies through different platforms that they must file data regarding CSR in XBRL format, which is easy as well as more data analysis-friendly,” says a highly placed official of the MCA. However, the response of private companies and MNCs is still quite lukewarm towards CSR.
Surprisingly, at present there is no authority with the MCA to penalise companies which do not spend, or spend less, on the mandatory CSR. “Even if some company does not fulfill the mandatory requirement or spends less, the ministry itself does not have any power to take any action. It has to go to its wing i.e. Registrar of Companies (ROC) to issue notice to the offender company,” says an official. “Also, even if a company decides not to spend on mandatory CSR, the law is such that the company can easily evade penalty, as the company board has to decide upon CSR spending and it can give some justification for not spending on CSR,” adds the MCA official.
This being the situation, it is only conscience that prevails as far as CSR spending is concerned and companies have to inculcate their own voluntary urge of being responsible towards society. “Unfortunately, private companies and MNCs are perhaps well versed with this provision and so they are openly skipping the mandatory provision of CSR,” remarks Chartered Account Shivkant Vaish. But now the government has started to take stringent measures against the defaulters companies. “First of all, the MCA has issued strict guidelines regarding filing of the data related to CSR in annual reports in a prescribed format in the Director’s report, in which any CSR amount unspent during previous years or current fiscal has to be clearly mentioned,” adds Shivkant Vaish.
Spending By Prominent Companies
| PSUs | ||
| S.No. | Company Name | Amount Spent(INR Lakh) |
| 1 | Ntpc Limited | 27,781.00 |
| 2 | Power Finance Corporation Limited | 16,811.00 |
| 3 | Mahanadi Coalfields Limited | 16,661.00 |
| 4 | Power Grid Corporation Of India Limited | 14,733.00 |
| 5 | Northern Coalfields Limited | 7,731.00 |
| 6 | Nhpc Limited | 7,581.00 |
| 7 | Nuclear Power Corporation Of India Limited | 7,168.00 |
| 8 | Rural Electrification Corporation Limited | 6,979.00 |
| 9 | Sjvn Limited | 3,716.00 |
| 10 | Jammu And Kashmir Bank Limited | 2,186.00 |
| Total (INR Lakh) | 111,347.00 |
| Other Companie’s | ||
| S.No. | Company Name | Amount Spent(INR Lakh) |
| 1 | Hdfc Bank Limited | 30,542.00 |
| 2 | Icici Bank Limited | 18,237.00 |
| 3 | Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited | 14,654.00 |
| 4 | Axis Bank Limited | 13,541.00 |
| 5 | Maruti Suzuki India Limited | 8,950.00 |
| 6 | Persistent Systems Limited | 6,746.00 |
| 7 | Yes Bank Limited | 3,722.00 |
| 8 | Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited | 3,675.00 |
| 9 | Indusind Bank Ltd. | 3,381.00 |
| 10 | Reliance Infrastructure Limited | 3,278.00 |
| Total (INR Lakh) | 106,726.00 |
This article is part of 2nd Annual Issue of GDP Magazine on CSR. Governance Democracy& Politics (GDP) Magazine’s Special Issue on #CSR Takes A Deep Dive on the state of CSR Spending. It has a regressive database of 6000+ companies on CSR Spending.
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