NGOs to help companies undertake CSR work

NEW DELHI .  The government has prepared a list of sanitised Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), free of any terrorist links or unwanted funding, that can undertake Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities. The Companies Act makes it mandatory for corporate houses to spend 2% profit on CSR activities.

 

The first lot of 47 NGOs, of which eight are based in Maharashtra, have been cleared by seven ministries, including the home ministry and the Intelligence Bureau, Bhaskar Chatterjee, director general and chief executive officer of the Gurgaon-based Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs told dna.

 

More NGOs would be added to the list, which will help the corporate sector choose their partners in CSR activities. This would grow exponentially as the provisions of Section 135 and Schedule VII of the Companies Act has come into effect from April 2014.

 

"All these NGOs have been cleared by as many as seven ministries, including the home ministry so that they are not blacklisted by the government later. Many NGOs are under the scanner for various transactions and alleged terrorist links. All NGOs in our database have been cleared by the home ministry and the Intelligence Bureau. The corporate sector can now pick from this list of sanitised NGOs," Chatterjee, who heads the institute formed by the ministry of corporate affairs, said.

 

The books of accounts of all NGOs, their certificates and all documents have been certified by statutory auditors.  DNA