The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has reported that annual filings by companies on development corporate social responsibility expenditure totalled Rupees 1,441,590.5 million (Rs mn) across the five years from FY 2019-20 to FY 2023-24. The ministry maintains a central database of CSR expenditure reported in the MCA 21 registry and stated that state-wise, year-wise, company-wise and project-wise details are available in the public domain at www.csr.gov.in. The ministry said the filings underpin transparency and public access.

As per the Companies Act, 2013 the ministry noted that CSR is a board driven process and that boards are empowered to plan, decide, execute and monitor CSR activities. The statutory framework requires CSR committees, a CSR policy, annual action plans, certification of CSR expenditure by the chief financial officer and audit by statutory auditors to ensure accountability. Under the Companies (CSR Policy) Rules, 2014 companies with an average CSR obligation of Rs 100 mn or more in the three immediately preceding financial years must commission independent impact assessment of projects with outlays of Rs 10 mn or more that have been completed at least one year before the study.

On the basis of filings in the MCA 21 registry the ministry provided year-wise development CSR expenditure converted to Rupees million. For FY 2019-20 the figure was Rs 249,658.2 mn, for FY 2020-21 it was Rs 262,109.5 mn, for FY 2021-22 it was Rs 271,414.5 mn, for FY 2022-23 it was Rs 309,320.8 mn and for FY 2023-24 it was Rs 349,087.5 mn. The ministry observed a steady increase in reported development CSR expenditure over the period.

The information was supplied in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha by ministers of state in the ministries of Corporate Affairs and of Road, Transport and Highways. The ministry reiterated that details of CSR activities and impact assessments are required to be reported in the annual report on CSR which forms part of the company board report and that the legal provisions support monitoring and transparency.