New Delhi, 20 January 2022: Against the mandated budget of Rs 145.56 crore on CSR activities, Larsen & Toubro Limited, an Indian multinational conglomerate, has spent Rs 150.07 crore towards various activities for the benefit of the community. This exceeds the required spend by Rs. 4.51 crore. L&T’s focus areas in Corporate Social Responsibility included Health, Education, Water & Sanitation and Skill Building
The CSR amount spent against other than ongoing projects amounted to Rs 144.06 crore. The amount spent on administrative overheads was Rs 6.01 crore.
Commonly known as L&T, the company has business interests in engineering, construction, manufacturing, technology, and financial services. Its average net profit for the last three financial years stood at Rs 7,278 crore. Thus, its mandatory CSR obligation was calculated at Rs 145.56 crore, as 2 percent of the average net profit of the past three years. The amount required to be spent by the company on CSR-related activities during the last financial year was Rs. 144.80 crores. Its CSR spend for FY 2021 is 2.06% of the average net profit of the last three financial years.
The annual report of the company states, “The amount carried forward by the Company to offset against CSR obligation of the succeeding years is Rs 57.74 crore under Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rules, 2014 as amended vide Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Amendment Rules, 2021. This comprises Rs 4.51 crores of excess spent during the year 2020-21 and Rs. 53.23 crores contributed to PM CARES fund during the year 2019-20.”
L&T’s focus areas in Corporate Social Responsibility
In the financial year 2020-21, the company’s primary theme was on ‘Building India’s Social Infrastructure’ as part of its CSR programme which included, amongst others, the following areas:
- COVID Relief— L&T assisted in the setting up of ICUs for treating COVID-19 patients, equipped existing government hospitals with ventilators, provided Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits, gloves, masks to health workers, as well as made available basic provisions food to those in need.
- Water & Sanitation—Included but not limited to watershed development, access to potable water, promoting rainwater harvesting, soil and moisture conservation, recharging groundwater levels by facilitating setting up of community-based institutions such as village development committees, self-help groups, farmer groups, and community management of water resources for improving conditions related to sanitation, health and awareness amongst communities through an integrated approach.
- Education— Included but not limited to education infrastructure support to educational institutions, learning programs and nurturing talent at various levels. Promoted learning enhancement amongst children, both in schools and in communities through interventions in pre-school education, innovative teaching methodology and training teachers in formal schools, provided interesting “teaching learning material”, with a special focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects. This was achieved through support to Balwadis and Anganwadis, strengthening the in-school interventions and providing after school study classes in the community. Ongoing community-based education programs were significantly impacted by COVID-19 induced lockdown. Efforts were taken to remain digitally connected to the children, despite challenges.
- Health— In the unprecedented FY 2021, the focus and outlay on health were substantially increased. Regular health activities including but not limited to community health centres, mobile medical vans, dialysis centres, general and specialized health camps and outreach programs, support to HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis control programs continued, albeit on a lower scale.
- Skill Development— Included but not limited to vocational training such as skill building, computer training, women empowerment, support to ITI’s, support to specially-abled (infrastructure support and vocational training), construction skills training centres and providing employability skills to women and youth.
Composition of CSR Committee
M. M. Chitale is the Chairman of the CSR Committee at Larsen & Toubro. Other key members are R. Shankar Raman and D. K. Sen. The CSR committee met four times during the financial year.
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