Waste Not, Want Not: JSW Steel Transfers Rs. 86.49 Crores to Unspent CSR Account

In accordance with the newly amended Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Rules, 2021, JSW Steel has transferred Rs 86.49 crores to the unspent CSR account. The new rules call for any unspent CSR amount to be channeled to a specified CSR account.

JSW Steel expenditure on CSR activities for FY 2020-21 totaled Rs 78.32 crores out of the Rs 176 crores that were earmarked for CSR as per Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013. The Act which came into effect in 2014, stipulates that all companies should satisfy certain conditions for CSR every year. The amended rules call for companies to spend two percent of their average net profits from the preceding three financial years on CSR activities.

Additionally, Rule 10 of the amended Act mandates that ‘the unspent CSR amount, if any, shall be transferred by the company to any fund included in Schedule VII of the Act. In keeping with this new directive, JSW Steel has transferred the unspent CSR amount to a designated account.

JSW Steel CSR Activities

The steel giant, along with its sister organization, JSW Foundation, has played an active role in CSR. The key to JSW’s approach to CSR lies in its ability to identify key stakeholders and work from the ground up. A perfect example is the company’s CSR plan in Dolvi for the next five years, i.e., 2019-2024. JSW Steel operates a steel plant in Dolvi and has taken on the challenge to positively impact the lives of the communities residing around its unit.

The five-year CSR plan has been clearly bifurcated into years and activities sections, each containing an assigned amount earmarked for a particular year. For example, JSW plans to spend Rs 40 lakhs on road and drainage in Dolvi in 2019-20. The amount goes up to Rs 44 lakhs in 2020-21, Rs 48.40 lakhs in 21-22, Rs 53.24 lakhs in 2022-23, and finally rounds up to Rs 58.56 lakhs in 2023-24. Such a clear-cut layout of CSR plans is exemplary and gives the stakeholders a comprehensible understanding of the companies’ CSR activities.

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JSW Steel understands the need to interact with the beneficiaries of its CSR programs for ascertaining their effectiveness. Furthermore, such contacts allow JSW to gain an insight into what the communities actually need and then design CSR activities to address them. The group-up working model of JSW Steel’s CSR is a unique example of how closer interaction with stakeholders is paramount for an effective CSR.