Jaitley Asks Corporates To Prioritise Social Spending In Rural Areas

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Tuesday asked corporates to prioritise their spending under corporate social responsibility (CSR) in rural areas.

"(There is) still a little distance in our priority programme as far as rural sanitation programme, rural housing is concerned. And then of course the prime need is irrigation. Plus other areas by which we eventually want to supplement their incomes-- poultry, cattle, milk, the eventual objective is we double their incomes," Jaitley said at an award ceremony for non-government organisations (NGOs) in Noida.

The government's limited resources make it tough to achieve this objective, and therefore civil society has a "very powerful and important role" to play here, the finance minister said.

“..through the CSR mechanism there is an institutionalised process by which some resources have to be spent,” he added.

Jaitley urged corporates to adopt an arm's length approach while taking up CSR activities and not pursue proposals to subserve their own ends.

Companies with a net profit of Rs 5 crore or more have to spend at least 2 percent of their profits on CSR. The idea, when it was adopted in 2013, was conceived by corporates as an additional tax that was being imposed on them, the finance minister said.

"...In the very initial years in the government we did calculate that that the width of the whole CSR if adequately implemented in the very first year should be in the tune of Rs 14,000 crore. Obviously the entire amount was not invested," he pointed out but added that with the passage of time the idea has been working well.