Corporate Social Responsibility Practice in India after Introduction of Companies Act, 2013

Abstract

Companies Act, 2013 has come into effect in India recently. Previously, Indian companies were under the control of Companies Act, 1956. In Companies Act, 1956, there were no provisions regarding Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Therefore, it was practiced only by few Indian companies voluntarily and they would report it in the way as they deemed fit. In this background, presence of a structured legal framework for CSR was badly needed. Keeping this in mind, Companies Act, 2013 has provided some important and contemporary provisions regarding CSR practice and reporting and these provisions came into effect from 1st April, 2014. Now, the companies which satisfy the required conditions as laid down in the act must spend a specific percentage of their net profit for CSR activities and report it each year. Standing on this situation, in this present paper, it has been attempted to review the scenario of CSR practice and reporting by some major Indian companies. A sample of ten companies has been selected for this purpose. On the basis of their merit in complying the CSR provisions, they have been ranked. The conclusion is that the selected companies have already initiated good CSR projects and they have the intention to perform their social responsibilities in the coming years in a better way.

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility, Average Net Profit, Implementing Agency, Monitoring Mechanism, Education, Health

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