Questions we
are asked most.

Activities listed in Schedule VII of the Companies Act, 2013: ending hunger and poverty, promoting education and health care, environmental sustainability, rural development. Your CSR policy sets out which of them you will fund.

Some spending does not count: activities in the normal course of your business, activities that benefit only your employees, contributions to political parties, and sponsorship for marketing. Administrative overheads are capped at 5% of the year's CSR spend.

If it is for an ongoing project, it moves to an Unspent CSR Account within 30 days of the end of the financial year, and must be spent within three financial years of that transfer. Anything still unspent after those three years goes to a Schedule VII fund within 30 days of the end of the third year. Money not tied to an ongoing project goes to a Schedule VII fund within six months of the end of the financial year.

Failing to do so carries a penalty of twice the amount that should have been transferred, or ₹1 crore, whichever is less.

Yes. Since 1 April 2021, an organisation carrying out CSR work for a company must be registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs by filing Form CSR-1. Most NGO partners must also be registered under sections 12A and 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Checking this is part of our due diligence.

Yes, if your average CSR obligation over the three immediately preceding financial years is ₹10 crore or more. It covers each project with an outlay of ₹1 crore or more completed at least a year before the study, and must be carried out by an independent agency.

No, and treating them as one is where most reporting goes wrong. CSR under Section 135 is money the company spends outside itself, on activities in Schedule VII, and reports against. ESG is a description of how the company itself operates (its emissions, its supply chain, its people, its governance), disclosed in India through SEBI’s Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report, which applies to the largest listed companies and now carries an assurance requirement on its core indicators.

They meet in two places. A board reading both wants to see that the CSR programme supports the company’s stated sustainability position rather than sitting beside it, and the same evidence often has to serve both documents. We work on the join.

Yes. Each programme can be booked on its own: a single proposal, a fundraising workshop, an impact assessment. Some engagements begin in the middle of the four stages.

Each piece of work is quoted on request, according to its scope. We do not quote a retainer for work that is better bought once.