SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir witnessed Corporate Social Responsibility expenditure amounting to Rs 282.24 crore over the past five financial years, according to data placed before the Lok Sabha. The Union Government has clarified that while CSR flows into the region have steadily increased, no scheme for minorities is run under CSR because the mechanism is entirely corporate-driven under the Companies Act. No Ministry is authorised to direct companies to target any specific community.
The filings made by companies on the MCA-21 portal show a consistent rise in CSR spending in Jammu and Kashmir. The region received Rs 25.27 crore in 2019–20, which increased to Rs 35.56 crore in 2020–21 and rose further to Rs 50.68 crore in 2021–22. The upward trajectory continued with Rs 72.19 crore recorded in 2022–23, reaching Rs 98.54 crore in 2023–24. Taken together, these figures amount to Rs 282.24 crore over the five years, marking a notable expansion of corporate engagement in social development activities in the Union Territory, even though the Government does not maintain any beneficiary-wise or community-wise records for CSR projects.
For Ladakh, which appears separately in the filings, companies reported CSR expenditure of Rs 14.84 crore in 2019–20, Rs 11.72 crore in 2020–21, and Rs 30.41 crore in 2021–22. Data for the subsequent two financial years had not been filed at the time of compilation.
After placing the region-specific numbers on record, the Minister for Minority Affairs, Kiren Rijiju, broadened the picture to the national level. He said that CSR is governed by Section 135 of the Companies Act, Schedule VII, and the CSR Policy Rules, and remains a Board-driven process in which companies themselves plan, fund, and monitor CSR activities. The Government does not intervene to prioritise any community, including minorities, and therefore does not operate any scheme or programme for minority groups under CSR. He also confirmed that there is no proposal under consideration to revise the existing CSR guidelines or to introduce community-specific requirements.
Across the country, CSR spending has grown steadily, rising from Rs 24,965.82 crore in 2019–20 to Rs 34,908.75 crore in 2023–24. States such as Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, and Delhi continued to attract the highest CSR inflows, while the PAN-India category—covering multi-state or unspecified projects—also remained significant. The Government noted that all filings are publicly available on the official CSR portal, where project-wise and sector-wise information submitted by companies is accessible for scrutiny.
