When will Indian CSR come of age?
Latest CSR data put out by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) in its latest Newsletter indicates that outlay towards education, which has traditionally been the most-funded social cause for corporates, has been declining for the past two financial years. While it remains the top-most cause, followed by health care, the CSR outlay toward education fell from Rs. 7,450 crore in FY20 to Rs. 6,683 crore in FY21 and Rs. 6,351 crore in FY22, says a new report by Sattva Consulting, a social enterprise working with non-profits and corporates to implement CSR projects.
These changes, which indicate an ongoing shift in CSR strategies, could be for a couple of reasons. First, the dip in education outlays could be a lingering impact of the pandemic, where school closures might have led to companies’ spending money reserved for education-related causes like school construction, books etc elsewhere. The upward trend in environment, on the other hand, could be because of more companies taking up environment and sustainability causes, as a result of both awareness and policy push. “With the mandate of Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR) report coming in, more companies are going to look for environment-related channels for CSR funding going forward."
While it’s understandable that companies will shift their strategies with changing times, they need to make sure that they do not view CSR as simply a compliance requirement and think about the on-ground consequences in the lives of underprivileged people if they decide to pull out of or reduce funding towards projects.
