The State Bank of India will formally commission a ₹2.12-crore project under its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative for providing toilets with water connections in 50 government schools in Palakkad. Another CSR initiative that would go on stream is the SBI’s digital village initiative spread over six villages in Kerala.
India has mandated corporate social responsibility under Section 135 of the Indian Companies Act 2013, setting thresholds based on net worth, turnover, profit and age. India, it is often said – not inaccurately – has too many laws and too little justice.
The government recently said show-cause notices have been issued to 1,018 firms for violating CSR norms under the companies law. Certain class of profitable companies have to shell out at least 2 per cent of their three-year annual average net profit towards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities under the Companies Act, 2013.
Absence of granular details is a big drawback, and narrows scope for collaboration. Ever so often, the true test of compliance boils down to how rather than how much was done. The mandatory spending on corporate social responsibility (CSR) prescribed under the Companies Act, 2013, is a case in point.
Sanjit ‘Bunker’ Roy, who turns 72 this August, has spent the past four decades of his life living the dream of creating self-sustaining village communities — not only in India but in 77 other countries, across 1,300 villages. The alumnus of Doon School and St Stephen’s College is the founder of Barefoot College, a …
