New Delhi, 23 February: The western state of Gujarat has witnessed a sharp increase in the CSR funding to its various development sectors in the period between the financial year 2013-14 and 2018-19.
According to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the CSR funding to the state grew from Rs 313 Cr in 2014-15 to Rs 1,059 Cr in 2018-19, a growth of 237%. During the same period, the average growth of CSR funding at national level was merely 85%.
The CSR funding data suggests that barring the year 2017-18 which witnessed a slight de-growth, the CSR funding to the state kept growing year by year from the financial year 2013-14 to 2018-19.
Gujarat - CSR funding over 2014-19
Maruti Suzuki, ONGC among top spenders
Over the 5-year period, the state also witnessed a major change in top spenders’ list with Maruti Suzuki India grabbing the top spot in 2018-19 with a total spent of more than Rs 53 Cr, followed by ONGC (Rs 53 Cr) and Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (Rs 40 Cr).
The three corporates were however missing in the list of top 3 spenders for the financial year 2014-15.
Also, during the period, the number of companies participating in the CSR activities in the state increased from 519 to a total of 1411.
Education remains top agenda; Rural development sector emerges top gainer
Over the reporting period, the three sectors - education, healthcare & rural development, continued to be the top 3 social sectors for the CSR funding. However, the spending pattern shifted with sector-specific CSR funding to rural development growing 7-fold in the given period.
As per the available CSR funding data, the rural development sector which received only Rs 24 Cr in the financial year 2014-15, got a major boost with the total funding for the sector growing to Rs 170.5 Cr in the year 2018-19.
However, the education sector remained on the top of the CSR agenda as the total funding to the sector grew from Rs 153 Cr in 2014-15 to Rs 398 Cr in 2018-19. Healthcare sector also witnessed a growth of close to 200% in CSR funding during 2014-19.
