Corporate Social Responsibility snippets

The government is expecting a fund flow of more than Rs.10,000 crore a year from private companies for social welfare initiatives as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) after Parliament clears the Companies Bill.
Once the legislation is ratified, India will become the first country to mandate CSR through a statutory provision. According to the proposal, it will be mandatory for private firms to earmark 2% of their average net profit for CSR initiatives. The government wants corporate houses to spend the sum in social sectors such as education and health rather than involving themselves in individual philanthropy.
Sachin Pilot maintained that the government is not going to mandate companies on what needs to be done as far as CSR activities are concerned.
While the minister clarified that the aim is to encourage private companies to undertake social welfare initiatives voluntarily, he said the firms will have to make public disclosure of their spending on CSR activities. Pilot was optimistic the proposal would lead to more inclusive growth as companies would have to give preference to local areas where they run their businesses.
But Pilot emphasized that companies should not be afraid of return of the inspector raj and must voluntarily engage in CSR initiatives.
The minister stressed that the companies would have to self-report and self-comply about their CSR activities. Emphasizing on the need for the new law, Pilot said that the last time a legislation like this was written in 1956 and since then around 850,000 companies have been registered across the country.