New CSR rules not applicable to SBI, bank to comply voluntarily

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The new corporate responsibility regulations notified recently was not applicable to the State Bank of India, but it would comply voluntarily.

"We do not come under companies act purview as SBI was created under SBI Act. So, the new norms are not mandatory on us," SBI CSR or change management GM, Vinod Pande told PTI.

However, being responsible towards the society the bank would comply voluntarily, he said. This would require to double the spending on CSR activities by the bank since current SBI CSR exposure was around one per cent of net profit, Pande said.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs notified Section 135 and Schedule VII of the Companies Act, 2013, which related to corporate social responsibility which would be effective from April 1 this year.

These companies would have to spend two per cent of their three-year average annual net profit on CSR activities in each financial year.

The norms would apply to companies with at least Rs 5 crore net profit or Rs 1,000 crore turnover or Rs 500 crore net worth. "In 2012-13, our total CSR spend was Rs 120 crore and in the current fiscal it is targeted at Rs 140 crore," Pande said.

In 2012-13 SBI's profit was Rs 14,105 crore and in the nine months period ended December 2013 profit was at Rs 7,850 crore.

SBI had extended its single largest CSR contribution of Rs 6 crore to the Tata Medical Centre toward part cost for a PET CT Scan machine. Tata Medical Centre also known as Tata Cancer hospital located at Rajarhat, West Bengal is engaged in offering affordable cancer treatment with latest equipment.