Who’s The Most Generous Of All In India Inc?
Coal India was the most generous Indian company in 2016-17.
State-owned miner Coal India Ltd. emerged as the most generous Nifty 50 company in the year ended March.
It spent 18.8 percent of the average net profit it earned over three years on corporate social responsibility, the highest among its Nifty 50 peers. That’s a significant increase over the 2 percent it spent in the financial year 2015-16, according to data compiled by BloombergQuint from annual reports.
According to the Companies Act, 2013, any firm with a minimum net worth of Rs 500 crore or a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore or a net profit of Rs 5 crore has to spend at least 2 percent of its average net profit – clocked in the last three years – on CSR.
Tata Steel Ltd. has been contributing close to 3 percent for the last two years – 3.4 percent in 2016-17 and 2.7 percent in 2015-16. Others like Wipro Ltd., Asian Paints Ltd. and Reliance Industries Ltd. contributed in the range of 2.1 to 3 percent.
The ranking at the top has changed over 2015-16, when Ambuja Cements Ltd., NTPC Ltd., Tata Steel Ltd., L&T and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. led the list contributing between 2.4 and 4 percent.
The Bottom Five
Fifteen Nifty companies failed to meet their CSR targets in 2016-17. Lupin Ltd. and Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. were at the bottom of the list, contributing just 0.6 percent towards CSR. They failed to meet the requirement for the second straight year.
Telecom operator Bharti Airtel Ltd., its tower arm Bharti Infratel Ltd. and pharmaceutical major Aurobindo Pharma Ltd. also contributed less than 2 percent towards CSR in the year-ended March.
