New Delhi, 24 November 2021: Kotak Mahindra Bank, a banking and financial services company, has spent an excess of Rs 72 lakh on its mandatory CSR obligation. The Bank’s prescribed CSR budget for the financial year 2020-21 was calculated as Rs 142.27 crore. The company’s CSR initiatives aimed at improving employability and promoting inclusiveness with an emphasis on women empowerment.
Its annual report says, “Our CSR initiatives are designed to bring about meaningful and measurable social impact, aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”
The average net profit of Kotak Mahindra Bank for the past three years was Rs. 7,113.74 crore. Thus, the prescribed CSR expenditure for FY 2020-21, two percent of average net profit, required under Section 135 of the Act and the Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rules, 2014, as amended from time to time, was Rs. 142.27 crore. However, the CSR expenditure for the period 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021 amounted to Rs. 142.99 crore. Of this amount, the bank’s spending on CSR project expenditure and administrative overheads was Rs. 79.40 crore. Its CSR administration overhead was Rs. 2.47 crore. The amount available for set off in succeeding financial years (excess amount spent) is Rs. 0.72 crore.
The balance amount of Rs. 63.59 crore was transferred to the ‘Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited Unspent CSR Account FY 2020-21’ in April 2021. “The bank is committed to utilise the same, within the stipulated three years from 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2024, towards completion of the board approved ongoing CSR projects which were initiated in FY 2020-21 and continue to be under implementation as on 31st March 2021,” the annual report of the bank states.
Kotak Mahindra Bank’s CSR Expenditure of Rs. 142.99 crore, as a percentage of average net profit, was about 2.01%. It was 67.83% higher than the CSR Expenditure of about Rs. 85.20 crore in FY 2019-20.
Major Focus areas
The company’s focus areas for the CSR activities were education, livelihood and healthcare.
Its major CSR projects included the following:
