Minister for Public Enterprise N. Nagaraju (MTB) on Tuesday assured the Legislative Council that the Government will come up with a policy on corporate social responsibility (CSR) for public sector enterprises in the State to ensure the funds are used well for public purposes.
He said that the Government will take action against those public sector enterprises that are not spending the mandatory 2% of their profits on CSR activities. “Administrative departments will also be issued directions. We will initiate a policy on CSR,” he added.
Acknowledging that the Government has not kept tabs on CSR expenditure, the Minister said that the companies have not informed it where they have spent the money. He was responding to Janata Dal (Secular) members K.A. Thippeswamy and K.T. Srikante Gowda.
Earlier, quoting from the reply of the Minister, Mr. Thippeswamy said that of the 60 public sector enterprises, 34 were making profits. “Some loss-making enterprises are undergoing liquidation. Some of those in profits are under administrative departments and some others are under public enterprises department.” However, he pointed out, many companies have not even formed a policy on CSR, and that the Government needs to form a guidelines to mandate these companies on spending 2% on CSR activities.
