CSR and the Pandemic
CSR i.e. Corporate Social Responsibility is a mandate established under the Companies Act 2013 which basically has a motive of giving back to the society. Section 135 of the Companies Corporate Social Responsibility says that every company having net worth of rupees five hundred crore or more, or turnover of rupees one thousand crore or more or a net profit of rupees five crore or more during any financial year shall constitute a Corporate Social Responsibility Committee of the Board and this shall ensure that the company spends, in every financial year, at least two per cent of the average net profits of the company made during the three immediately preceding financial years, in pursuance of its Corporate Social Responsibility Policy.
The world is in a situation which none of us had ever imagined in a million years, loosing countless lives daily, not even being able to say goodbye for the one last time everyone is in their own mental and emotional crisis even if they aren’t suffering from this deadly virus first hand. Now in the situation of Pandemic where each and every member from top to bottom of all these big industries, organizations and companies are working inside the four walls of their respective houses, to follow these guidelines its quite difficult to comply by them. CSR has been established for one sole purpose and that is giving back to the society and to a larger number of people. Pre-covid 19 situation regarding the CSR as mentioned in schedule VII used to included activities in regard to poverty, education, gender discrimination and any or all activities provided in the schedule of the Act, the current situation requires country to work in ways they had never imagined. Going through the basic CSR activities isn’t possible in these situations where every governmental or non-governmental body of country and International organization is asking humans to stay at home and practice social distancing. In such times companies are finding different ways to give back to society by preaching need of social distancing. Mc Donald’s, Nike and many other brands are doing their part under CSR in these unexpected circumstances. The MCA on catch up with the compliances brought some decisions regarding the same.
On the circular released on 23rd March MCA decides that any expenditure made for the services such as promotion of healthcare, sanitation and disaster management in regards to Covid-19 would be considered and counted under the CSR activities. Then on 30th March MCA said that any contribution made to PM CARES fund would be also considered as a CSR expenditure.
In such times the real meaning of such provisions is realised and figured out, if in such a time a company cant give back to the society in crisis it becomes very difficult to realise what are the morals of the company.
