According to data gathered by CSRBox, an analytics platform based in Ahmedabad that tracks social impact projects, the corporate social responsibility (CSR) spending by 16 large corporations from Gujarat decreased by 30% in FY22. In FY 2022, the top 16 companies' total actual spending was £26.02 million, down from £36.94 million in FY21. These businesses are among the top 301 that the firm surveyed.
Gujarat-based corporates have implemented 262 CSR projects across the country. “Profitability of firms has been impacted during the pandemic, as a result, many that delivered negative returns were not compelled to spend on CSR. Many companies have therefore not complied due to which their effective spending has declined. This is a trend seen across the country and in Gujarat,” said Bhomik Shah, founder and CEO, CSR Box.
Furthermore, according to CSRBox, companies had over committed their spending targets. “Covid-19 was the key driver for corporates to over-commit spending targets in FY 2021. This was rationalised considerably during the subsequent year,” said Shah.
Even after the Covid year, Gujarat's corporates continued to prioritise investing in CSR in the healthcare sector. However, overall healthcare spending dropped by 60%. Spending in areas, like education and the environment, increased significantly at the same time.
According to CSRBox “The decline is a sign of the postCovid recovery period. A shift in priorities can be seen in other sectors like education and skill development, environment and sustainability and sports promotion. The latter two, in fact, emerged vitally in CSR Landscape for FY 2021-22 in Gujarat.”
As far as projects executed in Gujarat is concerned, the state received £59.61 million of CSR spends in FY 2021-22 from corporates across India. This declined 12% as compared to £67.6 million of spending in the state in FY 2020-21.
