RIL, ONGC, 6 other Fortune 500 cos spend $81 mn on CSR

New Delhi: As many as eight Indian companies in Fortune Global 500 list including Reliance Industries and ONGC spend as much as $81 million a year on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities, a report says. [caption id=“attachment_2051999” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] According to a report published by the Varkey Foundation in partnership with UNESCO, while, the eight Indian companies in the Fortune Global 500 spent $81 million a year on CSR activities. In comparison, 132 US companies in the Global Fortune 500 spend over $10 billion on CSR. In UK, 26 companies spend more than $2 billion on CSR, eight Australian firms spend $980 million and eight Spanish firms spend $648 million. The report, however, said average CSR spend per year of the eight Indian companies in the Fortune Global 500 stood at $10 million, which is higher than their counterparts in China $5 million and Japan $8 million. The average annual CSR spend was worked out by taking the average of the years 2011–13. Globally, Australia has the highest average CSR spend per company at $123 million, followed by the UK $102 million, the US $78 million and Brazil $55 million. On the other hand, China and Japan have amongst the lowest average CSR spend by company. Meanwhile, the eight Indian companies in the Fortune Global 500 spend $15 million a year, or 18 percent of their total CSR expenditure on education CSR activities. “The promotion of education and employment-enhancing vocational skills were two key focus areas for Indian companies, especially at primary and secondary levels,” the report said. As per the report, a vast majority of education related CSR spend went to primary education 39 percent, followed by secondary education 29 percent, vocational education 14 percent and spending on infrastructure 14 percent. “Spending on education by companies in India is often institutionalised, long-term, and needs-based. Most of the companies in the list had built and run schools for several years, particularly in urban areas for underprivileged children (and many had done the same for hospitals targeted at the underprivileged),” the report said. The report also shows that the largest 100 companies in India based on net sales, plus information from the government on Maharatna and Navratna Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), showed an actual corporate spend of $57.9 million annually on education-related CSR. Vikas Pota, CEO, Varkey Foundation, said: “This campaign comes at exactly the right moment, but to be successful it requires the world’s business leaders to take a fresh look at their philanthropic spend.” From India, the study included 121 companies, including the largest 21 PSUs, which reported extensive CSR programmes. Eight of these were in the Fortune Global 500. PTI