Government Sanctions Prosecution In 366 Cases For Non-Compliance With CSR
In 2014-15, as many as 16,785 companies shelled out Rs 10,065.93 crore towards corporate social responsibility activities.
The government has sanctioned prosecution in 366 cases for non-compliance with corporate social responsibility norms under the companies law during the 2014-15 period.
Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur on Monday said in the Lok Sabha that India is the first country in the world to make CSR mandatory for all profit-making companies meeting certain threshold under the Companies Act, 2013.
In 2014-15, as many as 16,785 companies shelled out Rs 10,065.93 crore towards CSR activities.
During the Question Hour, Thakur said the entire CSR architecture is disclosure-based and companies are required to file CSR initiatives in annual filings to the corporate affairs ministry. The ministry has also set up a centralised scrutiny and prosecution mechanism to monitor compliance with CSR norms.
So far, sanction for prosecution has been accorded in 366 cases for the financial year 2014-15 and 5,382 call for information notices have been issued in 2015-16.
“All CSR-related offences are compoundable. So far, 60 applications for compounding have been received,” Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply.
In 2017-18, as many as 3,117 companies spent Rs 8,365.35 crore towards CSR activities, as per data up to Oct. 20, 2018. “Given that the obligation under the CSR provisions has been in existence from FY2014-15 only, there has been considerable progress both in terms of number of companies contributing to CSR and overall CSR spent,” Sitharaman said in the written reply.