The President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, will present the National Corporate Social Responsibility Awards (NCSRA) to select companies for their outstanding contribution in area of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) on Tuesday, 29^th October, 2019 in New Delhi.  The National CSR Awards has been instituted by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs to recognize corporate initiatives in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to achieve inclusive growth and inclusive and sustainable development. These awards are the highest recongnisation in the domain of CSR by the Government of India.

This year 528 entries were received for NCSRA. After shortlisting as per the prescribed criteria of the jury, 131 companies were invited for detailed submissions which were then followed by field verification of the claims made by the companies. Based on the submissions by the companies and reports of the independent assessment by CSR experts, Jury recommended 19 winners and 19 honourable mentions across the three award categories.

About National Corporate Social Responsibility Awards (NCSRA):

The Awards have been instituted in 2017 subsequent to the recommendations of the High Level Committee on CSR.

Objectives:

a) increase competition in various categories of companies to infuse excellence in their CSR activities

b) encourage companies to spend the entire amount i.e. eligible CSR spend

c) recognise the impact, innovation, usage of technology, gender and environment issues, sustainability, scalability and replicability of CSR activities.

d) channelise CSR activities of corporate so that the benefits of their activities reach the marginalised sections of society and in remote areas of the country

Categories of Awards:

Total number of awards of National CSR Awards is 20 in 3 categories which are as follows

1. Corporate Awards for Excellence in CSR:

Recongnition to a company based on total eligible CSR Spend (four awards)

• Companies have eligible CSR Spend above 100 crores
• Companies have eligible CSR Spend between 10 crores and 99.99 crores
• Companies have eligible CSR Spend between 1 crores and 9.99 crores
• Companies have eligible CSR Spend below 100 crores

Honourable Mention: In addition to four main awards, there may be four honourable mentions for companies that have undertaken appreciable CSR activities.

2. Corporate Awards in CSR in Challenging Circumstances:

Recognition to a company based on its CSR efforts in challenging circumstances, aspirational districts, difficult terrains/disturbed areas, etc. (up to five awards)

• North
• North East
• East
• West
• South

Honourable Mention: In addition to five main awards, there may be five honourable mentions for companies which have undertaken appreciable CSR activities.

3.  Up to Eleven Awards to be given based on contribution to National Priority Schemes so as to motivate corporates to spend in these areas.

Honourable Mention: In addition to eleven main awards, there may be eleven Honorable Mentions of companies which have undertaken appreciable CSR activities.

Composition Jury for this year Award:

This year the composition of Jury includes Shri Jugal Kishore Mohapatra, Former Secretary, Rural Development, GoI (Chairman), Shri Anil Swarup, Former Secretary, School Education, Ministry of HRD, GoI, Dr. Madhukar Gupta, Addl. Secretary, Dept. of Public Enterprises, GoI, Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai, Former Chairperson, HSBC India, Shri Ajay Shriram, Chairman and Sr. Managing Director, DCM Shriram, Shri Rajat Sethi, Sr. Advocate, Supreme Court of India. In addition, a 16 member expert committee was drawn from the following institutions to assist the Jury with shortlisting and field verification of the received entries for the Awards.

Corporate Social Responsibility awards incentivize impactful, sustainable corporate CSR and channel support to national priority initiatives. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs' National Corporate Social Responsibility Awards recognise and incentivise corporate CSR initiatives that demonstrate impact, innovation, sustainability, scalability and reach to marginalised or remote populations, encourage full deployment of eligible CSR spend, and promote contributions to national priority schemes through a process of shortlisting, detailed submissions and independent field verification by experts.