Corporate Social Responsibility

CSR implies a concept, whereby companies decide voluntarily to contribute to a better society and a cleaner environment – a concept, whereby the companies integrate social and other useful concerns in their business operations for the betterment of its stakeholders and society in general in a voluntary way.

Applicability

The provisions of CSR applies to

• every company
• its holding company
• its subsidiary company
• foreign company

Having in the preceding financial year

• Net Worth > 500 Crore
• Turnover > 1000 Crore
• Net Profit > 5 Crore

Importance of Corporate Social Responsibility

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an immense term which is used to explain the efforts of a company in order to improve society in any other way.

• CSR improves the public image by publicizing the efforts towards a better society and increase their chance of becoming favorable in the eyes of consumers.
• CSR increases media coverage as media visibility throws a positive light on the organization.
• CSR enhances the company’s brand value by building a socially strong relationship with customers
• CSR helps companies to stand out from the competition when companies are involved in any kind of community.

Role of Board of Directors

The role of the Board of Directors is explained below

• After considering the recommendations made by the CSR Committee, approve the CSR policy for the Company.
• The Board must ensure only those activities must be undertaken which are mentioned in the policy
• The Board of Directors shall make sure that the company spends in every financial year, minimum 2% of the average net profits made during the 3 immediately preceding financial years as per CSR policy.
• The Board’s Report shall disclose –
• CSR Committee’s composition
  • the contents of CSR Policy
  • the reasons for not spending the amount of 2% as per CSR Policy (in case the company fails to spend such amount

Constitution of the CSR Committee

• Every company to which CSR criteria is applicable shall constitute a Corporate Social Responsibility of the Board (i.e. CSR Committee).
• Minimum 3 or more directors must form CSR Committee.
• Among those 3 directors, at least 1 director must be an independent director.
• An unlisted public company or a private company shall have its CSR Committee without any independent director if an independent director is not required.
• In case of a foreign company, the CSR Committee shall comprise of at least 2 persons of which one person shall be a person resident in India authorized to accept on behalf of the foreign company – the services of notices and other documents. Also, the other person shall be nominated by the foreign company.

Duties of the CSR Committee

• The CSR Committee shall formulate and recommend a CSR policy to the Board. CSR policy shall point out the activities to be undertaken by the company as enumerated in Schedule VII.
• CSR Committee shall recommend the amount of expenditure to be incurred on the CSR activities to be undertaken by the company.
• CSR Committee shall monitor the CSR policy of the Company from time to time.
• The committee shall establish the transparent controlling mechanism for the implementation of the CSR projects or programs or activities undertaken by the company

CSR Reporting

With respect to CSR Reporting, the provisions are as follows :

• The Board’s Report referring to any financial year initiating on or after the 1st day of April 2014 shall include an annual report on CSR.
• In case of a foreign company, the balance sheet filed shall contain an annexure regarding report on CSR.

CSR Policy

CSR Policy elaborates the activities to be undertaken by the Company as named in Schedule VII to the Act and spend. The activities should not the same which are done by the company in its normal course of business

• Contents of CSR Policy should be placed on the company’s website by the Board
• The activities mentioned in the policy must be undertaken by the company
• The Company can join hands with other companies for undertaking projects or programs or CSR activities and  report separately on such programs or projects
• The CSR policy shall monitor the projects or programs.

List of Permitted Activities To Be included in accordance with Schedule VII of the Companies Act, 2013

The Board shall ensure that the activities included by a company in its CSR Policy fall within the purview of the activities included is schedule VII. Some activities are specified in Schedule VII as the activities which may be included by companies in their Corporate Social Responsibility Policies. These activities are related to :

Explanation: For the purposes of this item “slum area” shall mean any area declared as such by the Central Government or any State Government or any other competent authority under any law for the time being in force.

Reason For Introduction of CSR for Companies

We live a dynamic life in a world that is growing more and more complex. Global scale environment, social, cultural and economic issues have now become part of our everyday life. Boosting profits is no longer the sole business performance indicator for the corporate and they have to play the role of responsible corporate citizens as they owe a duty towards the society.

The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), introduced through Companies Act, 2013 puts a greater responsibility on companies in India to set out clear CSR framework.

Many corporate houses like TATA and Birla have been engaged in doing CSR voluntarily. The Act introduces the culture of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in Indian corporate requiring companies to formulate a CSR policy and spend on social upliftment activities

CSR is all about corporate giving back to society. The Company Secretaries are expected to be known about the legal and technical requirements with respect to CSR in order to guide the management and Board