Surge in spending, India Inc rides the Corporate Social Responsibility wave

India Inc is mandated to allocate 2 per cent of their average net profit from the past three years to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. A Prime Database study on CSR spending for the financial year 2023-24 (FY24) reveals that some companies significantly surpassed this requirement. Orient Paper & Industries topped the list with the spending of ₹3.03 crore—74 per cent of its ₹4.1 crore average net profit over the prior three years. Other notable high spenders include Rategain Travel Technologies (53 per cent of profit), Pearl Global (50 per cent), Shemaroo Entertainment (38 per cent), Exicom Tele-systems (37 per cent), and L&T Finance (31 per cent).

 

Prominent blue-chip firms like NTPC, Coal India, Wipro, and Reliance Industries also exceeded the 2 per cent mandate. Remarkably, 59 companies, including Lloyds Metals & Energy and Tata Motors, spent a combined ₹170 crore on CSR despite reporting losses or insufficient profits. However, 259 companies fell short of the mandatory 2 per cent spending, up from 249 in FY23.

 

Overall, CSR expenditure by NSE-listed companies rose 16 per cent to ₹17,967 crore in FY24, from ₹15,524 crore in FY23. Leading in absolute terms were HDFC Bank (₹945 crore), Reliance Industries (₹900 crore), and Tata Consultancy Services (₹827 crore). The top 10 companies accounted for one-third of the total CSR pool in FY24. 

	Highest % spent on CSR
	% of net profit spent on CSR
Orient Paper	74.14
Rategain Travel	53.35
Pearl Global	50.32
Shemaroo	38.37
Exicom	37.03
	Cos with highest excess spend
	Excess spend* (Rs cr)
NTPC	87.78
Coal India	87.26
Wipro	78.2
Reliance Ind	60
Jindal Steel	50.38
	Spending on CSR despite incurring losses
	CSR spend (Rs cr)
Lloyds Metals	66.55
Tata Motors	21.6
Bharti Airtel	11.4
Jaiprakash Power	8.6
Aditya Birla Fashion	4.1
	Top spenders
	CSR spend (Rs cr)
HDFC Bank	945.3
Reliance Ind	900
TCS	827
ONGC	634.6
Tata Steel	580

 

Source: Prime Database

Note: *Prescribed (minus) Actual CSR expenditure