About a fifth of Nifty 50 companies failed to spend the minimum required on philanthropy for the fourth straight year.
Billionaire Anil Agarwal's Vedanta Ltd. was the most generous in the financial year 2017-18, spending nearly 10 percent of its average three-year net profit on corporate social responsibility, according to BloombergQuint's calculations. UPL Ltd. ranked second while state-owned Coal India Ltd. third. The top three most generous companies, however, ended up spending less than the previous financial year.
Any firm with a net worth of at least Rs 500 crore, with a minimum turnover of Rs 1,000 crore or a net profit of Rs 5 crore or more is required to spend 2 percent of its average three-year net profit on CSR, according to the Companies Act, 2013. If a company fails to spend the minimum amount, it has to specify the reason or face a penalty.
Dilip Shanghvi-controlled Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Tata Motors Ltd. were the only two Nifty 50 companies that contributed towards CSR despite reporting losses.
Ten companies failed to meet the CSR norms for the second consecutive year. Among them were Bharti Airtel Ltd., Bharti Infratel Ltd., IndusInd Bank Ltd., Lupin Ltd. and Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. Of these, nine have failed to meet the requirements since corporate social responsibility norms were rolled out from April 1, 2014.
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