As CSR spends touch Rs 12,000 cr, investigators stalk ghost beneficiaries

Companies are stepping up scrutiny of how their money is spent

A company was funding health care spends under its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. It later engaged a consultancy to conduct a review of its programme, only to discover that some of the funds went to patients that didn’t exist.

Such ghost beneficiaries aren’t the only kind of issue companies face during a period of unprecedented CSR spending, touching nearly Rs 12,000 crore in 2018-19 (FY19). Frauds related to procurement, construction, and end-use of funds have had companies engaging forensic auditors to keep tabs on how money is spent, revealed conversations with those involved in such investigations. Firms are also increasingly