New Delhi: Only 4 to 5 per cent of the Rs.1.25 lakh crore spent on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) have gone to the PM Cares Fund and that too in the last two years during the Covid-19 pandemic, Minister of State (MoS), Corporate Affairs Inderjit Singh informed Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. "Out of the Rs 1.25 lakh crore that has been spent on CSR over the last seven years, not more than 4 to 5 per cent has gone to the PM Cares fund. Most of that money has gone during Covid in two years," said Singh.
He also said that earlier there was an attempt to include the Chief Minister's Relief fund for spending CSR funds but it was not allowed by the Union Government. "There were attempts to make CSR funds go to the Chief Minister's Fund, but it was not accepted by the government of India. Because then, in whichever state the chief minister is then the funds from these companies will only go to the direction given by the chief minister. We don't want to have that," said Singh.
"The basic idea of spending CSR is to do the best you can for the public good. And it cannot necessarily be that only one person can think about and not the chief minister alone," he added. The MoS said that Section 135 of the Companies Act provides the framework for CSR spending and the first proviso to this is that where the company is established, it should first endeavour to spend CSR funds. "But, this is not mandatory, it is a directory. The broad principle adopted by the government of India is for companies to not just spend at the place where it exists but also in other areas across the country," he added.
Responding to a suggestion to make CSR funds spending mandatory for improving the backward districts of the country, the minister said, "It is stated that it is not mandatory." "What happens is that generally, companies tend to spend money where they are located. The main beneficiaries thereafter are states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi and areas in the north-east like Nagaland, where there is very little CSR spending," he added. The Minister said that in the last seven years since CSR funds have been invoked, Nagaland has only been able to get Rs 8 crore out of 1.2 lakh crore spent under CSR by various companies.
(With agency inputs)
