NSE-listed firms spent Rs 14,801 crore on CSR in FY22; RIL, HDFC and TCS among top 10 contributors

The total amount spent on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) by the NSE-listed companies stood almost flat at Rs 14,801 crore in FY22 against Rs 14,763 crore in FY21, according to primeinfobase.com.

With an expenditure of Rs 813 crore, energy-to-telecom behemoth Reliance Industries (RIL) emerged as the top company on the list. It was followed by HDFC Bank (Rs 736.01 crore), Tata Consultancy Services (Rs 727 crore), Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (Rs 458.44 crore) and Tata Steel (Rs 405.97 crore).

Data further showed that NTPC, ITC, Infosys, Indian Oil Corporation and NMDC also spent somewhere between Rs 290-360 crore. These top 10 companies together spent 32 per cent of the total amount spent on CSR activities in FY22.

Meanwhile, the number of companies that spent on CSR went up to 1,182 (98 per cent of the 1,205 companies) in FY22 from 1,117 (98 per cent) in FY21. The 23 remaining firms did not spend anything despite being mandated to do so.

According to primeinfobase.com, the average net profit of these 1,205 companies over the last three years was Rs 7.19 lakh crore, up from Rs 6.80 lakh crore in FY21. As per CSR requirements, the amount required to be spent by them was Rs 13,977 crore (FY21: Rs 13,531 crore), against which they spent a higher Rs 14,801 crore (FY21: Rs 14,763 crore), as several companies spent more than what was required and also because of unspent amounts of previous years which they spent in FY22.

In line with the previous years, education received the maximum spend (Rs 4,436 crore), followed by healthcare (Rs 4,202 crore). On the other hand, areas such as slum development, armed force veterans and technology incubators saw lower and negligible spending.

In comparison to the previous year, spending on national heritage increased the most (27 per cent) followed by spending on healthcare (26 per cent) and environment sustainability (25 per cent). On the other hand, contribution to PM’s relief fund fell the most (48 per cent) followed by spending on armed forces veterans (43 per cent),

The CSR law, which came into force in April 2014, mandates companies, subject to the provisions of the Act, to invest two per cent of their net profit in CSR projects. Companies with a net worth of Rs 500 crore and above or revenue of Rs 1,000 crore and above or net profit of Rs 5 crore and above have to spend two per cent of the average net profits of the last three years.

According to primeinfobase.com, 1,797 companies were listed on NSE main board as on March 31, 2022. Of these, annual reports for FY22 have been released by 1,759 companies. As many as 1,734 had details relating to CSR given in the annual reports, while no such details were available for the rest. Finally, of the 1,734 companies, 1,205 were obligated to spend on CSR, up from 1,144 companies in FY21.