The Government has said that the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) & Sustainability Guidelines for the Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) may have to be modified to align with the provisions of the Companies Bill, recently passed by the Parliament, once enacted and notified. Giving this information in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today, Shri Praful Patel, Minister of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, said that as per guidelines on CSR and Sustainability issued to the CPSEs, all profit making CPSEs are mandated to create budgetary allocation on a yearly basis for CSR activities/projects to be undertaken during the year with the approval of Board of Directors. The budget allocated for CSR and Sustainability activities/projects planned for each financial year is expected to be spent within that year. Unspent budget of a year would not lapse. Instead, it would be carried forward to the next year for expenditure on CSR and Sustainability activities. CPSEs will make every endeavour to spend the unutilized budget of any year within the next two financial years; failure to do so would result in the unspent amount getting transferred to a ˜Sustainability Fund™ to be created separately for CSR and Sustainability activities.
Shri Patel informed the House that the responsibility for monitoring the implementation of CSR and Sustainability guidelines by the CPSEs is of the administrative Ministry/ Department concerned. However, the performance of CPSEs on CSR and Sustainability is evaluated through MoU system which is in vogue.
