Donations By Companies To PM-CARES Fund Finally Notified As CSR

New Delhi: Donations made by companies to the Prime Minister’s Citizens Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations Fund (PM-CARES Fund) will be considered as expenditure on corporate social responsibility, Corporate Affairs ministry has finally notified.

The ministry stated that it has amended Schedule VII of the Companies Act 2013 by including contributions to PM-CARES Fund as valid CSR activity along with Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund, reports PTI.

Under the Companies Act, certain classes of profitable entities have to shell out at least 2 per cent of their three-year annual average net profit towards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities in a particular financial year.

Changes will be deemed to have come into force on March 28, 2020 to allow for all corporate contributions to PM-CARES Fund made over the last two months to qualify as CSR spend.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had tweeted on March 29 that donations to PM CARES Fund will be part of CSR activity. But a formal notification from the ministry of corporate affairs didn’t come.

Now that it’s been made official, the corporate companies which had donated to the PM-Cares Fund are breathing a sigh of relief.