Indian IT firms spend more on education as part of CSR: Nasscom

BENGALURU: Indian IT firms are spending more on education as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), said industry apex body NasscomFoundation on Wednesday.

"Education remains the focus area of IT firms' CSR activities, with 76 per cent of multi-national companies reporting highest spend on it, followed by 18 per cent on gender equality and 12 per cent on hunger and poverty in fiscal 2016-17," said the Foundation at its CSR Leadership Conference here.

According to a survey that the Foundation conducted with global CSR platform Goodera, 62 per cent of the Indian and multinational companies have spent 100 per cent of their CSR funds on education and allied social activities in the last fiscal.

"The industry has accepted the 2 per cent CSR rule with more IT firms declaring 100 per cent utilisation of their CSR budget," said the survey report titled "Catalysing Change".

Smaller firms below Rs 100 crore turnover are also fully using their CSR funds. While 58 per cent of large firms and 53 per cent of medium firms are spending 100 per cent of their CSR budget, 73 per cent of small firms spend 100 per cent of their CSR budget.

"Only 5 per cent of IT companies reported spend of less than 50 per cent of their CSR budget," said the report.

"The IT industry has been at the forefront of social development initiatives and it is heartening to see the industry emerging as one of the most efficient and innovative adopters of corporate social responsibility."

The survey also revealed that 43 per cent of multinationals worked with central and state governments in their socio-economic projects in 2016-17.

"Technology continues to be a force multiplier in social impact, with more than half of the companies that spent 100 per cent of their CSR funds, claiming efficient use of technology to deliver CSR programmes aligned to the government agenda," said Foundation Chief Executive Shrikant Sinha at the conference.

About 400 industry leaders, NGO heads, officials, CSR thought leaders, civil society members and social innovators participated in the day-long conference.

National Association of Software & Service Companies (NASSCOM)