Nasscom Foundation says most firms spend 70% CSR fund on education

Nasscom Foundation on Thursday in its yet-to-be-released report, has said that a substantial number of companies have spent more than 60-70% of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) spend in education initiatives and the remaining half spend between 30-40% of their budget in education.

"Education forms the major chunk of CSR spend: A substantial number of companies interviewed have spent more than 60-70% of their CSR spend in education initiatives and the remaining half spend between 30-40% of their budget in education," the report, to be released shortly at a different event, said here.

Nasscom Foundation organised the CSR Conference 2016 here on Thursday.

The Foundation Chief Executive Shrikant Sinha said India Inc in its third year of the CSR mandate has started to show signs of maturity towards its CSR spends and larger number of companies are willing to work towards sustainable goals and create a more developed society around them.

MeitY Additional Secretary Ajay Kumar said benefits from government are no longer received from local government office but through DBT.

"325 million people benefited so far," he added.

Also government services have grown nearly 100% and farmers have opportunity to sell their produce directly in a national market through eNAM (National Agricultural Market) portal, Kumar said.

"E-commerce is increasingly becoming alternative mode of purchasing by the common man. Digital payments is the net big transformation. I urge Nasscom Foundation and its members to continue the good work in ensuring that 'No Man Left Behind' in this digital transformation of India," he said.

The conference announced that the industry had widely accepted the 2% CSR rule with a trend of more and more companies coming out openly to declare 100% plus utilisation of their CSR money for 2015-16.

The report also said companies are now also going to non-headquarter locations for CSR, indicating growing equity in the distribution of projects between urban and rural areas.

It also said companies have become increasingly aware of outcome assessment and close monitoring implementing agencies, as evidenced by the growing frequency of report submissions from partner organisations, and greater on-ground frequency of CSR team.

National Association of Software & Service Companies (NASSCOM)