Page 3 - Csr

Finmin, World Bank to work closely to create market structure from CSR

The World Bank and the finance ministry on Sunday agreed to work closely to create a market structure from the CSR demand side for maximising social impact. World Bank President Ajay Banga, who was in Delhi to attend the G20 Leaders' Summit, on Sunday met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman. The two leaders during the bilateral meeting discussed the outcomes of G20 India Presidency, the evolution of the World Bank Group and their engagement with India through knowledge exchange and financial assistance for developmental projects, among other issues. "During the meeting, Mr. Banga agreed to work closely with the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance @FinMinIndia to create a market structure from the Corporate Social Responsibility #CSR demand side for maximising social impact," the ministry said in a post on X. The finance minister stated that she looks forward to the leadership of the World Bank President in taking forward the recommendations on the triple agenda ...

Green causes get less than 10% of CSR money, platform launched to up funds

Stating that environmental causes accounted for less than a tenth of corporate social responsibility (CSR) funding between 2015 and 2021, the International Climate Collaborative (ICC) on Thursday launched a dedicated platform to help funnel more resources for such purposes. The 'Earth Exponential' platform, which is backed by JSW Foundation, will bring together funders and non-profits and showcase credible, high-impact and India-led climate solutions, as per an official statement. The statement said in the seven years to 2021, environment-related causes got Rs 6,183 crore of the overall funding of Rs 67,193 crore in CSR. The platform will be curating, evaluating and displaying home-grown climate projects, and enabling them to scale by matching them to funders, it said. It aims to reduce entry barriers for funders through simplified solution discovery and knowledge building, the statement said. "India's home-grown climate solutions offer immense potential to address climate change

Input tax credit not available for GST paid on CSR work expenses: UP AAR

CSR activities are excluded from the normal course of business, says authority citing rules

Sagar Samajik Sahayog: New CSR guidelines for ports in India unveiled

Ports in India will need allocate a specific percentage of their annual turnover for their corporate social responsibility projects

Noida emerges as hub of hawala deals in the guise of CSR in last few months

Several hawala rackets for laundering black money have been unearthed in Noida in the last few months. The business that is thriving in Noida, has made it a hub of hawala deals

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CSR spend in Northeast anything but generous in FY22, shows data

The concluding part of a three-part series on corporate social responsibility spending looks at regional disparities in allocation

Eye on CSR Part-II: FY22 spend near target, thanks to white knights

The second of a three-part series on corporate social responsibility (CSR) looks at whether companies are meeting spending expectations

Eye on CSR-I: Listed govt firms contributed Rs 2,900 crore to PM CARES

The first of a three-part series on corporate social responsibility (CSR) explores allocations to the PM CARES Fund. The analysis is in the context of easing of CSR disclosure rules in annual reports

Food laws must work on making unbranded items safer: Assocham report

Study surveyed 5,000 participants from 15 large cities, says Indian consumers mostly satisfied with product information provided about branded foods, but are concerned about unbranded items

SBI Foundation commits Rs 3 mn grant to eight select social ventures

SBI Foundation, the CSR arm of State Bank of India (SBI) on Sunday committed Rs 30 lakh as a grant to 8 ventures who work at the grassroot level to bring change in the lives of rural population. The selection for the grant is done on the basis of projects submitted by fellows of SBI Youth for India programme, and depending on the assessment, grant is pledged during 'SBI YFI Sahyog - The Pitch Fest', SBI Foundation CEO and Managing Director Sanjay Prakash told PTI. Four top winning ideas are given support of Rs 6 lakh each while four runners-up are given Rs 1.5 lakh each, he said after the selection process on Sunday. Last year, he said, the Foundation had given a grant of Rs 20 lakh to selected few social enterprises both under non-profit and for-profit ventures by the SBI Youth for India (YFI) Alumni. Under SBI YFI programme started in 2011, he said, around 100 professionals or fresh graduates are selected as fellows, who join hands and foster change with rural communities and NGO

Philanthropy by India's super rich falls by a third in FY22, says report

The dramatic fall was because contributions by the Azim Premji Foundation dropped by Rs 9,000 cr

UPA's decision to provide CSR fund to govt relief fund in 2013: Sitharaman

The decision to provide corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds to various relief funds of the central government was taken by the previous UPA government in 2013, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharamanon on Tuesday said in the Rajya Sabha. Sitharaman was responding to a supplementary query of (CPI-M) member V Sivadasan during the question hour that why CSR funds cannot be given to chief ministers' relief funds of state governments. "I heard the honourable member Sivadasan jee speak as to why it can be given to certain central government schemes and not be given for Chief Ministers' relief fund...(spending of CSR funds) was very much discussed and talked about during the UPA (United Progressive Alliance regime in) 2013 in this House saying CSR is part of the Companies Act and thought it fit that not to do (spend) it in favour of state chief ministers' relief fund," she said. So, that was part of what was decided in the previous government, she said, adding that we have not said tha

HCL Foundation CSR spending up 10.76% to Rs 216 crore in FY22

HCL Foundation, a CSR arm of HCL Technologies Ltd, on Thursday said it spent Rs 216 crore during the 2021-22 fiscal on several initiatives across urban and rural development besides environmental action, up by 10.76 per cent from over the year. About Rs 195 crore was the CSR investment made during the 2020-21 financial year. "HCL Foundation and its partners worked tirelessly with communities to multiply our programme reach by over 12 times since 2016. Our projects are aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals... We remain committed to the long road ahead," said HCL Technologies CEO and Managing Director C Vijayakumar. Since 2016, the Foundation has spent Rs 900 crore on CSR programmes that span healthcare, sanitation, poverty eradication, education, skilling and livelihoods, environment and disaster risk reduction, the Foundation said in a statement. Speaking to PTI, HCL Foundation Vice President and Director Nidhi Pundhir said CSR programmes were implemented during the ...

PotHoleRaja: How one start-up is fixing roads the eco-friendly way

PotHoleRaja has grown from small pothole-fixing drives to a dedicated network of volunteers and is working today with some of the biggest corporations and organisations in the country to build roads

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Govt looks to ease compliance burden with new CSR disclosure rules

The new rules have also revised the amount to be spent on impact assessment of CSR projects to 2 per cent of total CSR obligation or Rs 5 million, whichever is higher

Companies can omit important information under new CSR disclosure rules

New rules let companies omit details like title, location, and duration of the business's CSR project, budget allotted for it, the amount spent on it during the current fiscal year among others

NMDC institutes in Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district send youths to MNCs

Besides mining, the company has pioneered development initiatives and steered changes in improving the quality of education in remote areas as part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR).

SC suggests idea of private jails built by corporates as part of CSR

The Supreme Court Thursday expressed concern over the conditions of jails in the country and suggested the idea of building private jails involving big corporates. The apex court said big corporate houses can build private prisons as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility. In Europe, there is a concept of private jails. Then there is corporate social responsibility. If you give them sufficient inducement you can have jails built. Because you don't want the public exchequer to be used for that. There is an alarming number of under-trial prisoners. They will build it and give it to you and claim reduction under the Income Tax. A new concept will emerge. Then a new concept will evolve, from anticipatory bail to anticipatory jail, said a bench of Justices K M Joseph and Hrishikesh Roy. The observation came after senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for activist Gautam Navlakha, said there is over overcrowding in jails and only Ayurveda doctors are available for patients. The