Whenever any violation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) provisions is reported, action against such non-compliant Companies are initiated as per provisions of Companies Act, 2013 after due examination of records. So far, sanction for prosecution has been accorded in 366 cases. All CSR related offences are compoundable. So far 118 applications for compounding have been made and 37 cases have been compounded.

This was stated by Shri Anurag Singh Thakur, Union Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs, in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

The Union Minister further stated that Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a Board driven process and the Board of the company is empowered to decide the activities to be undertaken as per Schedule VII of the Companies Act, 2013 taking into consideration the recommendation of its CSR committee. The entire CSR architecture is disclosure based and CSR mandated companies are required to file details of CSR amount spent annually in MCA21 registry.

Corporate Social Responsibility compliance can trigger prosecution; offences remain compoundable and annual disclosure in MCA registry is required. Prosecution and compounding mechanisms apply for non-compliance with Corporate Social Responsibility obligations: sanctions for prosecution have been accorded in multiple cases, and CSR-related offences are compoundable with applications filed and some matters compounded. CSR governance is board-driven, with the Board considering its CSR committee's recommendations to decide eligible activities. The regime is disclosure-based and mandated companies must file annual CSR expenditure details in the MCA registry.