Corporate & Commercial

CSR Policy

As per section 135(3) of the Companies Act, 2013 (“Act”), CSR committee shall formulate and recommend to the Board, a CSR policy indicating the activities to be undertaken by the company in areas or subject as specified in Schedule VII of the Act. The Board after taking into account the recommendations made by CSR committee, shall approve the policy for the company and disclose the contents of such policy in its report and also placed it on the Company’s Website, if any.

A CSR policy shall be formulated by the company which shall include the activities to be undertaken and it is a responsibility of the Board to ensure that activities included by a company in its CSR policy are related to the activities included in Schedule VII of the Act.

CSR committee shall also recommend the amount of expenditure to be incurred on the activities referred as mentioned in the policy.

CSR Policy FAQ's

The CSR policy of the company shall, inter alia, include the following namely:

 

(a)  a list of CSR projects or programs which a company plans to undertake in areas or subject falling within the purview of the Schedule VII of the Act, specifying modalities of execution of such project or programs and implementation schedules for the same; and

 

(b)  monitoring process of such projects or programs.

 

Activities which may be included by companies in their CSR policy are as under:

 

(i)  Activities relating to eradicating extreme hunger, poverty and malnutrition, promoting health care including preventive health care and sanitation (including contribution to the Swach Bharat Kosh set-up by the Central Government for the promotion of sanitation) and making available safe drinking water;

 

(ii)  promoting education, including special education and employment enhancing vocation skills especially among children, women, elderly, and the differently-abled and livelihood enhancement projects;

 

(iii)  promoting gender equality, empowering women, setting up homes and hostels for women and orphans; setting up old age homes, day care centres and such other facilities for senior citizens and measures for reducing inequalities faced by socially and economically backward groups;

 

(iv)  ensuring environmental sustainability, ecological balance, protection of flora and fauna, animal welfare, agro-forestry, conservation of natural resources and maintaining quality of soil, air and water (including contribution to the Clean Ganga Fund set-up by the Central Government for rejuvenation of river Ganga);

 

(v)  protection of national heritage, art and culture including restoration of buildings and sites of historical importance and works of art; setting up public libraries; promotion and development of traditional and handicrafts:

 

(vi)  measures for the benefit of armed forces veterans, war widows and their dependents, Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and Central Para Military Forces (CPMF) veterans, and their dependents including widows;

 

(vii)  training to promote rural sports, nationally recognized sports, paralympic sports and Olympic sports;

 

(viii)  contribution to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund or Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM CARES Fund) or any other fund set up by the Central Government for socio-economic development and relief and welfare of the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes, other backward classes, minorities and women;

 

(ix)  Contribution to incubators or research and development projects in the field of science, technology, engineering and medicine, funded by the Central Government or State Government or Public Sector Undertaking or any agency of the Central Government or State Government;

 

(x)  Contributions to public funded Universities; Indian Institute of Technology (IITs); National Laboratories and autonomous bodies established under Department of Atomic Energy (DAE); Department of Biotechnology (DBT); Department of Science and Technology (DST); Department of Pharmaceuticals; Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH); Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and other bodies, namely Defense Research and Development Organisation (DRDO); Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR); Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), engaged in conducting research in science, technology, engineering and medicine aimed at promoting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

 

(xi)  rural development projects;

 

(xii)  slum area development; and

 

(xiii)  disaster management, including relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction activities including contribution to PM Cares Fund for COVID-19.

 

In addition to the above, any company engaged in research and development activity of new vaccine, drugs and medical devices in their normal course of business may undertake research and development activity of new vaccine, drugs and medical devices related to COVID-19 for financial years 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 subject to the conditions that-

(i)  such research and development activities shall be carried out in collaboration with any of the institutes or organisations mentioned in item (ix) of Schedule VII to the Act.

(ii)  details of such activity shall be disclosed separately in the Annual Report on CSR included in the Board’s Report.

 

The activities in Schedule VII of the Act are to be interpreted liberally so as to capture the essence of the subjects enumerated in the aforesaid schedule. It is for the Board of the company to determine what is included within the same.

The following shall not be treated as CSR activities/expenditure:

 

  1. The CSR projects or programs or activities under taken outside India.

 

  1. The CSR projects or program or activities that benefit only the employees of the company and their families.

 

  1. Contribution of any amount directly or indirectly to any political party under section 182 of the Act.

 

  1. One off events such as marathons/awards/charitable contribution/ advertisement/ sponsorship of TV programmes, etc.

 

  1. Expenses incurred by companies for the fulfilment of any Act such as labour laws, land acquisition act, etc.

 

  1. Any other expenditure on projects or programs or activities which are not in conformity or not in line with activities laid down in Schedule VII of the Act.

 

  1. Contribution made to Chief Minister’s Relief Fund or State Relief Fund for COVID-19.

 

It is important to note that any surplus arises out of the CSR projects or programs or activities would not form part of the business profit of the company. ​

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