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

Moneycontrol News

February 15, 2021 / 14:41 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.

Further, the overall share of public sector companies’ contribution towards CSR dropped to 6 percent in FY20, compared to 20 percent in FY19.

Among segments for which funding was severely affected include health, where livelihood, especially for the differently abled, slumped by 50 percent to Rs 3,582 crore.

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