PSUs asked to contribute to Swachh Bharat pool

Advised to deposit money they could not spend on CSR activities

GN Bureau | August 5, 2016


#PSU   #Swachh Bharat   #CSR  

The government has turned to state-run companies to contribute to an account created to finance the prime minister's Swachh Bharat programme. The department of public enterprises (DPE) has sent out an advisory, asking central public sector undertakings (PSUs) to deposit the money that they could not spend on corporate social responsibility programmes in the last fiscal in the Swachh Bharat Kosh, according to a report by the Economic Times. 

According to the new Companies Act, a company with a net worth of Rs 100 crore or more has to set aside a minimum 2 percent of the three-year average annual net profit for CSR activities. During the first year (2015-16) of the new CSR rules, PSUs spent about Rs 2,300 crore on CSR activities which was 71 percent of what they should have under the rules. During the last fiscal year, 460 companies including 51 PSUs spent a little over Rs 6,300 crore on CSR activities.

Corporate affairs minister Arun Jaitley, in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha in May, had said companies contributed Rs 42.64 crore to the Swachh Bharat Kosh. They also spent Rs 15.49 crore towards the 'Clean Ganga Fund'. If the PSUs put in all the unspent money in the account, that would be close to Rs 1,000 crore.
 

Comments

 

Other News

Beyond toilets: Why open defecation persists in rural India

Despite the awareness campaigns on sanitation across India, open defecation (OD) is practised openly and widely in both rural and urban areas. Research shows that rural respondents are well aware of the negative impacts of OD, yet this awareness does not lead to toilet construction or use. In rural North I

What unpaid nation builders want from policymakers

The Supreme Court recently described homemakers as “nation builders” and fixed a notional monthly income of Rs 30,000 for them in motor accident compensation cases. The judgment was not about wages. It was about compensation. Yet it inadvertently raised a larger economic question: If a homemake

What the US–Iran peace deal means for India

After months of rising tensions, the United States and Iran have reached a memorandum of understanding called the "Islamabad Agreement." This agreement allows for the immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz without tolls and provides Iran with relief from sanctions, depending on its complianc

V. M. Tarkunde: A legal luminary par excellence

14 Lawyers: Portraits from The Bar By Raju Ramachandran  Juggernaut, 248 pages, Rs. 799  

The Cost of Obesity

The latest episode of Checks and Balances focuses on the ticking time bomb of obesity in India, and Geetanjali Minhas of Governance Now spoke with a panel of experts. You can watch the episode here: https://youtu.be/mH

US-Iran deal: Path to peace or prelude to deeper regional quagmire?

In the midst of deep mistrust, the US and Iran are reported to have reached a framework deal for ending the West Asian conflict. But whether it will result in any meaningful breakthrough or pave the way for any lasting peace in the region, is in the realm of speculation.   During





Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter