Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) Chairman and Managing Director Saswat Mishra declared that the corporation intends to spend 5 per cent of its funds on CSR activities. It is significantly more than the 2 per cent stipulated by the New Companies Act 2013, he said.
He was speaking at the “New Companies Act and the CSR Symposium 2014” organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) here on Tuesday to discuss issues regarding the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)-related provisions of the Companies Act 2013.Mishra was critical of the Schedule 7 of the Act which contains the permissible activities of what would be construed as CSR activities. He said the items mentioned in the schedule are strongly biased in favour of the Centre. While contributions to the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund are permissible, such contributions to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund are not.
Similarly, the Act accepts the contributions to technology incubators of Central Universities as acceptable expenditure but not those to State Universities, he pointed out.Mishra requested the ICC to bring to the notice of the concerned authorities these anomalies and the lopsided tax benefits for the contributions to such activities.ICC Odisha Chapter Chairman Vishal Agarwal identified the OMC, Nalco and Tata Steel as some of the corporates which have made significant contributions on the CSR front in Odisha.
Agarwal said CSR has been practised in India long before it became a global buzzword, but the globalisation of the Indian economy has led to shift in approach to CSR activity from an act of philanthropy to an essential responsibility which called for a more professional approach.Mesco Steel Director Priyabrata Patnaik said that in spite of its many good provisions, the Companies Act has missed out on penal provisions in case of failure to meet the stipulated criteria for expenditure on the CSR head and the mechanism to monitor the activities of the companies on this front.
Tata Steel CSR Head Prashant Mallick and Tata Sponge Iron Managing Director DP Deshpande also participated in the deliberations.