FY20 CSR spend plummets to Rs 7,800 crore – half of FY19: Report
The share of public sector companies’ contribution towards CSR dropped to 6 percent in FY20, compared to 20 percent in FY19 February 15, 2021 / 02:41 PM IST
Economic downturn due to the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted corporate social responsibility (CSR), evidenced by businesses’ charity spend for FY20 dipping by 50 percent of FY19 numbers, data showed.
CSR for FY20 was a little over Rs 7,800 crore against Rs 18,655 crore in FY19, Mint reported. This spend usually addresses societal concerns such as education, health, hunger, malnutrition and poverty.
As many as 248 entities, including large corporations in the auto, food and tech space spent well below the amount, data from the Corporate Affairs Ministry showed; while 98 percent of companies in the pharma, insurance and cement space contributed nothing towards CSR.
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The regulator said the net worth of the AMC would have to be maintained until the time it makes a profit for five consecutive years.
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The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) Wednesday paved the way for technology startups to enter the mutual fund business by waiving the profitability requirement, approved doing away with minimum promoter contribution toward follow-on public offers (FPO), and also eased norms on investing in insolvent companies.
“To facilitate innovation and enhanced reach to more investors at a faster pace including tech-enabled solutions, sponsors that are not fulfilling profitability criteria at the time of making the application, shall also be considered eligible to sponsor a mutual fund subject to having a net worth of not less than Rs 100 crore for the purpose of contribution toward the net-worth of the asset management company (AMC),” Sebi said Wednesday after its board meeting.