Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) spending by companies listed on the NSE main board increased by 16% to Rs 17,967 crore in 2023-24 compared with Rs 15,524 crore in 2022-23, according to primeinfobase.com.

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 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 their average net profits of last three years.

Sharing his views on the growth in CSR spending, Pranav Haldea, Managing Director, PRIME Database Group said, “This was due to an 18% rise in average net profit (of the preceding 3 years) of these companies, 2% of which needs to be spent on CSR activities as per regulatory requirements, and followed 3 year of flattish spends, from Rs 14,751 crore in 2019-20 to just Rs 15,524 crore in 2022-23.”

According to primeinfobase.com, 2,013 firms were listed on NSE main board as on March 31, 2024. Of these 2,013 companies, annual reports for 2023-24 have been released by 1,966 companies. Of these 1,966 companies, 1,944 had details relating to CSR given in the annual reports, while no such details were available for the balance 22. Finally, of the 1,944 companies, 1,394 were obligated to spend on CSR, up from 1,297 companies in 2022-23. This analysis is based on these 1,394 companies. The average net profit of these 1,394 companies over last three years was Rs 9.62 lakh crore, up from Rs 8.14 lakh crore in FY23.

The data further highlighted that the top 10 firms in terms of CSR spends in FY24 includes HDFC Bank (Rs 945.31 crore), Reliance Industries (Rs 900 crore), TCS (Rs 827 crore), ONGC (Rs 634.57 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 580.02 crore), ICICI Bank (Rs 518.87 crore), Indian Oil Corporation (Rs 457.71 crore), Infosys (Rs 455.67 crore), ITC (Rs 404.05 crore) and Power Grid Corporation of India (Rs 330.48 crore). Together, these firms spent 34% of the total CSR spending in FY24. As in previous years, education received the maximum expenditure (Rs 1,104 crore), followed by healthcare (Rs 720 crore).

State-wise, Maharashtra (Rs 266.14 crore) received the maximum CSR spends from India Inc. It was followed by Rajasthan (Rs 242.58 crore), Tamil Nadu (Rs 215.13 crore), Gujarat (Rs 210.49 crore), Telangana (Rs 136 crore), Delhi (Rs 120.85 crore), Odisha (Rs 120.74 crore), Uttar Pradesh (Rs 118.24 crore), Chhattisgarh (Rs 118 crore) and Haryana (Rs 112.23 crore). These 10 states accounted for 60% of the total CSR spend.