CSRBOX, a leading CSR advisory firm officially launched a research report titled- CSR & SDGs in India based on the CSR work done companies listed on BSE stock exchange at India's Social Impact Forum-2020 held recently.

India Impact Forum 2020 aims to create and communicate new ideas with smart planning and active leadership that will make CSR unit as a central hub to the company’s ongoing social impact. The main agenda of the forum was to discuss and deliberate on the need to engage with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and develop strategies to manage the social and environmental performance of companies.

India Impact Forum brought together leading social entrepreneurs and influencers from the domains of impact investment, corporate responsibility, philanthropy, governance, technology, and public policy to discuss and deliberate on social development challenges. Maharashtra Village Social Transformation Foundation (MVSTF) was the strategic partner for the event. The report was released by Mr Praveen Pardeshi (IAS, Municipal Commissioner of Greater Mumbai) & Mentor, MVSTF along with Mr David J. Ranz, U.S. Consul General, Mrs Sandra Shroff, Vice Chairman, UPL Ltd and Mr Ronnie Screwvala, Founder, Swades Foundation & Ms Durga Shakti Nagpal, IAS, Deputy Secretary, Department of Commerce, Govt. of India. This event saw the participation of 700 delegates from all over India with around 180 companies and 300+ non-profit organisations.

CSRBOX, a CSR advisory firm, conducted the research analysis based on the CSR work done by the 519 companies listed on BSE, that have prescribed INR 0.5 Cr or above for CSR in FY 2018-19, and had CSR data available by 31st December 2019. Their research covered 7780 projects implemented under CSR with the total prescribed budget of INR 11702.55 Cr and actually spent of INR 11713.43 crores.

After India became the first country to make CSR mandatory for a certain group of companies under Companies Act, 2013, developmental work is done in the social sector soared. With the advent of the UN Sustainable Developmental Goals (SDGs) in 2015, CSR gained traction and provided Indian corporates with focused goals and thematic areas to work on.

As per the indicators stated by NITI Aayog, the research found that about 28% of the total CSR fund went into Quality Education (SDG 4), making it the most preferred Goal. This was followed by Good Health and Well-being (SDG 3) with 20% of CSR funding and No Poverty (SDG 1) with 14% of CSR funding.

It was also observed that CSR projects in Quality Education covered the largest area with 93 aspirational districts, followed by Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6) and Good Health and Well-Being covering 74 and 87 aspirational districts respectively.

With regards to SDG 4, the indicators that were focused on were ‘Adjusted Net Enrolment Ratio at Elementary and Secondary School (42.11%)’ and ‘Average Annual Dropout rate at the secondary level (33.78%)’. While the top indicator for SDG 3 was ‘Number of governmental physicians, nurses and midwives per 1,00,000 population (72.13%)’.
The research also revealed that the top thematic areas for CSR projects were Education and Skill Development, Rural Development, and Alleviation, Healthcare, & WASH.

Thus, with the trend of continuous growth in CSR funding in India, SDGs 4, 3, and 1 are set to gain even more attention with Decent Work and Economic Growth (SDG 8) and Clean Water and Sanitation (SDG 6) following close behind.

Sharing his perspective, Mr Ramnath Subramaniam, CEO, MVSTF, said, “The conference was structured around the lens of impact through CSR and SDGs. CSRBOX once again has proved its mettle in the CSR sector. The organisers this year to have done a great job and in fact, have raised the bar. Selection of themes, topics and speakers was well thought and helped all the stakeholders. Even the report gives useful and critical insights into the sector and shows all the parties involved in the sector a way forward. It was indeed a matter of great pride and honour to be a strategic partner of such a unique and big event.”

Sharing his insights on the event and the report Bhomik Shah, CEO, CSRBOX said, “SDGs have become a common lens for companies, nonprofits, philanthropists and government to look at social impact and development work that each of them has been doing. Aligning CSR with SDGs gives companies a universal approach of prioritizing thematic areas and geographic cluster for CSR projects. India Impact Forum aimed at bringing together all the key sector people and talk about how they prioritize their social sector investment and how does SDGs and its indicators help in creating a common framework of development. This event focused on how to look at SDGs from local level to national level and make decisions.”

“CSRBOX is looking at taking the social sector investing data to a deeper level by measuring district-level funding through CSR, philanthropy and grants. This will give more insights into which all organisations are investing in a district and how they can collaborate for larger intervention and better impacts,” he added.