CSR activities should bring smile to people; not profit for cos: Sachin Pilot

NEW DELHI: As India Inc braces up for a mandatory social welfare spending regime, Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot has asked the companies to desist from spending on profit-earning activities to meet these norms.

 

 

 

While he is open to the idea of the companies getting some tax benefits for CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) spending, the minister has said that it would be against the "letter and spirit" of the new requirement if such activities are seen as yet another avenue for earning commercial profits.

 

Asserting that CSR spending should not be seen as profit- making opportunity, Pilot told PTI that such activities should bring smiles to people, rather than profits to the company.

 

 

 

"CSR should be viewed as something that you are doing - whether through cash or or kind, or man-hours, or anything else - to bring smiles to the people's faces and not for your EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortisation)," Pilot said. Financial Chronicle .