Report: FY 16-17 Spend of Corporate Houses On CSR

As per a recent article published by Bloomberg Quint, it was reported Coal India Limited, a state-owned coal mining company, has been the most generous Nifty 50 company in the past three years. This year, the company reported a net CSR expenditure of Rs. 128.05 crore.

The article states that Coal India has spent about 18.8% of its average net profit, over three years, on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. This was a significant jump for the company, as in the previous year (2015-16), it spent Rs. 73.3 crore.

In the first year of the CSR mandate, Coal India spent a reported Rs. 24.7 crore and was ranked 66^th overall in the list of CSR spenders. Last year, the company increased its spending by nearly 50% (48.59) and climbed 38 steps to be ranked 28^th on the list for 2015-16.

Another major spender has been NTPC, who improved on their ability to spend beyond the 2% in 2015-2016 (Rs. 491.8 crores). As of 2014-15, the company spent Rs. 193.05 crore, instead of Rs. 271.35 crore NTPC was asked to allocate in social development activities.

While other corporate houses such as Tata Steel spent an average 3% of their average net profit in the past two years. The company spent Rs. 204.6 crore (2.7%) in the previous year.

Meanwhile, Reliance Industries Ltd. has spent the most towards CSR; over 2014-2016, the company has spent in the range of 2.1 to 3% of its net profit. Similar things could be said for Wipro Ltd. and Asian Paints Ltd.

There are other companies such as Ambuja Cements Ltd., NTPC Ltd., L&T, ITC Ltd. and Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. have been a common sight in terms of regularly spending the prescribed amount on CSR.

At the other end of the table are companies in Nifty 50 who have failed to spend the mandated 2% amount. Bloomberg Quint reported that Lupin Ltd. and Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. were the lowest ranked, as they contributed just 0.6% towards CSR. They failed to meet the requirement for the second straight year.” These were firms joined by telecom giant Bharti Airtel Ltd. Pharmaceutical firm Aurobindo Pharma Ltd. also failed at achieving its 2% goal.