50% Guj Cos Prefer CSR Through Implementing Agencies: Report

The execution of corporate social responsibilty mandate was majorly done using external implementing agencies in Gujarat in 2015-16. Gujarat CSR Outlook Report 2017 compiled by NGOBOX stated that only 23% companies used their own foundations for CSR implemention.

The report was released on February 16th at Ahmedabad Management Association during the Gujarat CSR Meetup. It takes into account CSR spending of 160 companies totalling to Rs 375.66 crore from Gujarat. These companies were selected on the basis of following criteria:

1. The prescribed total CSR spend for FY 2015-16 was more than one crore rupees.
2. CSR project implementation in Gujarat in FY 2015-16
3. Availability of the required data in various CSR disclosures

While there is an ongoing debate on whether companies should use their foundations for spending their CSR funds, figures from the report show that 50% companies in Gujarat used implementing agencies. About 27% companies undertook their CSR projects using direct implementation model.

Public sector enterprises considered in this report were 17 and they contributed Rs 63.86 crore sharing 17% of the total CSR expenditure.

Most funds were used in the sector of education & skills followed by poverty alleviation, healthcare & wash and environmental sustainability. Urban slum development and technology incubators with academic institutions remained to be the least gaining sectors.

“The total CSR spend by these companies in Gujarat alone is Rs 375.66 crore. As per the national study done by NGOBOX, Gujarat get 5.2% of total CSR spend of India. The major share in the total CSR spend came from Oil, drilling & refinery and Engineering sectors. Pharmaceuticals did not lag much behind,” the report stated.

The top 10 companies together spent Rs 169.95 Cr in CSR in Gujarat which makes it to 45.24% of total CSR spend by 160 companies. NTPC made the highest contribution of Rs 24.58 crore towards its various CSR initiatives in Gujarat, followed by Reliance Industries Ltd that spent Rs 23.46 and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone that spent Rs 22.55 crore.

“Companies are focusing on traditional areas of community welfare like healthcare and education. We see a lot of scope for companies to work on rural development and taking a holistic approach to transform villages into smart villages. Gujarat’s infrastructure provides a landscape for innovations which is currently lacking in CSR. There are few projects to incubate start-up in partnership with technology institutions,” said  Bhomik Shah, CEO, NGOBOX.

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The CSR Journal Team