Odisha to set up State Level Council for CSR activities

Bhubaneswar, Aug 19 (PTI) In an effort to make meaningfulutilisation of the funds under Corporate social responsibility(CSR), Odisha government today decided to set up a State LevelCouncil as facilitating agency to help companies planaccording to the development needs. "A State Level Council as a facilitating agency will helpCSR planning of the corporate houses in line with developmentneeds of the State," Chief Secretary A P Padhi said whilepresiding over a meeting attended by representatives ofcorporate houses, industry associations and chambers ofcommerce. Participants in the meeting welcomed the Chief Secretary’sproposal. They maintained that such an effort would be moreuseful both for corporate houses and the people, an officialrelease said. On the proposed council, industries secretary SanjeevChopra said it would only facilitate the CSR spending by thecompanies and help them report on developmental outcomes. Suchcoordinated approach would lead to target oriented utilisationof the CSR funds, he said. According to the existing provisions of the law, companieswith a net worth of Rs 500 crore or more or turnover of Rs1,000 crore or more or with net profit of Rs 5 crore or more,have to spend at least 2 per cent of their average net profiton CSR activities. Officials said around 287 corporate houses have spent nearabout Rs 344.12 crore in CSR activities during 2014-15. Out of this amount, around Rs 96.15 crore has been spenton infrastructure development, Rs 71.93 crore on education, Rs51.23 crore on health, Rs 40.57 crore on environmentalprotection, Rs 29.06 crore on livelihood promotion, Rs 11.55crore on vocational training and Rs 44.16 crore on other CSRactivities in the state. "Around 90 per cent of the funds have been spent only in10 districts. CSR activities are also unsystematically spreadacross districts and various sectors of development," themeeting resolved. PTI AAM NNABK