Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013, requires every company above the specified thresholds of turnover, or net worth, or net profit, to spend at least two per cent of the average net profits earned during three immediately preceding financial years, on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013, the Rules made thereunder, and Schedule VII of the Act read with General Circulars dated 18th June, 2014 and 12th January, 2016 issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, give the broad contour within which the Board of the eligible companies have been empowered to formulate their CSR policies and take decision with respect to allocation of CSR funds across various development sectors.   

An assessment of CSR expenditure of 7334 companies, for which information has been compiled for the year 2014-15, indicates that 142 Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and 2997 Private Sector companies together have spent ₹ 8803 crore during 2014-15 as summarised below:

CSR Expenditure during 2014-15

Sr. No.	Company Type	Total companies	No. of Companies with CSR expenditure	No. of Companies with no CSR expenditure	Actual CSR expenditure (in Rs. Crore) (2014-15)
1.	PSUs	226	142	84	2497
2.	Private  Sector Companies	7108	2997	4111	6306
	Total	7334	3139	4195	8803

This was stated by Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State for Corporate Affairs in written reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Corporate Social Responsibility obligation requires boards to adopt CSR policies and allocate funds across prescribed development sectors. Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013 mandates a Corporate Social Responsibility contribution by companies above specified financial thresholds, calculated from average net profits of the preceding three years, and tasks Boards with framing CSR policies and allocating funds across development sectors; government data for 2014-15 shows a mix of reporting and non reporting among companies, differentiating public and private sector conduct and aggregate reported expenditures.