The results of the annual CSR tracker compiled by CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development reveal that more than 90% of companies have complied with provisions of Section 135 of Companies Act 2013. The extensive CSR performance analysis of 1181 companies listed on BSE was conducted to capture and study the CSR spending of companies in the first year of the legislation.
As per the survey, by 31 March 2015, 97% of the companies had board-level CSR Committee and 94% of the companies had CSR policy, of which 91% had disclosed it on company’s website. 87% of the eligible listed companies have actually spent on CSR, though around 52% spent less than 2%. 83% of those 52% of the companies have given reasons for under-spending. Most of the companies lost time in the beginning to understand a fairly complex piece of legislation and then setting the governance structure, drafting a policy, and identifying projects or aligning ongoing projects to Schedule VII of the Companies Act. The other reasons for under-spending are projects being multi-year, or companies couldn’t find the right projects or implementing agencies.