Provisions of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) under Companies Act, 2013 and Rules made thereunder have come into force only recently, i.e., from 01.04.2014. This is the first year of implementation of CSR by companies. Specific difficulties of complying with CSR provisions of the Act by companies including Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) are likely to be brought to the notice of this Ministry only when companies implementing CSR policies gain experience of working of such provisions. This Ministry has, however, not received any communication from any PSU requesting for revising the 2 per cent CSR norms. At present there is no proposal to revise the CSR provision of the Companies Act, 2013.

This information was given by Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, MoS in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.

CSR contribution norm remains unchanged despite PSU compliance challenges following commencement of statutory CSR obligations. Difficulties in complying with Corporate Social Responsibility obligations have arisen as companies, including PSUs, implement the Companies Act, 2013 CSR framework effective 1 April 2014; the Ministry has not received requests from PSUs to revise the 2 per cent CSR norm and has no current proposal to amend that requirement, as stated by the Minister of State in a parliamentary written reply.