“The government does not use the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds to run its schemes,” said Union Minister of State for Finance and Corporate Affairs Anurag Thakur on Monday.
He said Maharashtra has received maximum CSR funds of Rs 12700 crore so far, followed by Gujarat (Rs 3926 crore) and Andhra Pradesh(Rs 3542 crore).
“We don’t use CSR funds to run the Centre’s schemes,” he said.
The minister also declared that the government does not interfere with regard to the allocation of CSR funds by firms.
Under the Companies Act, certain classes of profitable entities are required to shell out at least 2 percent of their three-year annual average net profit towards CSR activities. In case of not spending the requisite amount, the firms concerned have to provide reasons for the same.
He also states the RBI’s internal working group (IWG) report which had recommended that large corporate or industrial houses may be allowed as promoters of banks, he said the central bank has not taken any decision on the issue.
“The RBI will take a final decision keeping in mind the interest of consumers of banks,” Thakur said, adding even today private sector majority stake is in banks like ICICI and HDFC.
