32 Nifty companies fail to meet CSR limits

A majority of top blue-chip listed companies, forming part of benchmark index Nifty, have failed to spend the prescribed amounts for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) in the first year, a new study shows.
The companies in the Nifty index spent a total of Rs 3,989 crore on CSR activities during the fiscal 2014-15, which is 79 per cent of the prescribed amount of Rs 5,046 crore, according to the study released today by the CimplyFive Corporate Secretarial Services.
CimplyFive, that offers research and technology based solutions for compliance with the Companies Act, further said that as many as 32 Nifty companies (64 per cent) did not spend their prescribed amount for CSR.

Under the new companies law, certain classes of profitable companies are required to spend at least two per cent of their three-year average profit on CSR in a year.
"Nifty companies spent Rs 3,989 crore on CSR, which is 79 per cent of the prescribed amount of Rs 5,046 crore. (Further) 32 Nifty companies did not spend their prescribed amount," the report said.
The report is the first ever analysis of trends and practices by the Nifty 50 companies under the new Companies Act, 2013.

The report, titled India Secretarial Practices 2015, also analyses the Secretarial Practices of companies that form part of the NIFTY 50 Index of the NSE by studying their annual reports published in 2015.

The report further said that the company secretaries of the Nifty companies' earned an average annual compensation of Rs 1.1 crore for the year. It is generally the job of company secretaries to ensure compliance to various laws.
The analysis is focused on six distinct areas -- board composition and sub-committees of the board, directors' report, secretarial audit, profile of the company secretary, CSR spends and the AGM notice.
The report further noted that 44 per cent of the Nifty companies were audited by the top five company secretary firms. Besides, 52 per cent of Nifty companies were audited by the top seven company secretary firms.