MUMBAI: Corporate social responsibility (CSR) spending by listed companies rose by 17.5% to Rs 22,563 crore in fiscal 2025 from Rs 19,208 crore in the previous fiscal, partly because the number of companies reporting such spending rose 20% to 2,013 from 1,678, marking the fastest growth since the scheme was introduced in fiscal 2014.
The numbers are based on a CRISIL analysis of the 2,323 listed companies that met at least one CSR applicability threshold based on their financial performance in the preceding fiscal year.
CSR spending became mandatory from April 2014, under Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013. The findings indicate that compliance continued to strengthen.
In fiscal 2025, as many as 1,364 companies spent 2% or more of their average profit on CSR, compared with 1,124 in fiscal 2024, said Amish Mehta, managing director of Crisil. Spending patterns also indicate a growing willingness to exceed the mandated threshold.
The number of companies allocating between 2% and 2.99% of average profit to CSR rose 26%, while those spending in the 2-2.10% range increased 25%.
Companies spending between 1.90% and 1.99% of average profit rose by a sharp 42%, he said. Education and healthcare continued to dominate corporate social investments.
Education and skill development attracted Rs 9,182 crore, accounting for nearly 41% of the total by 1,519 companies, followed by healthcare and sanitation, which received Rs 5,386 crore, or almost 24% of the total from 915 companies.
Alongside these established priorities, corporate social investments also became more diversified, with environment, rural development and sports emerging as the fastest-growing themes, he said.
While spending on environmental initiatives nearly quadrupled to Rs 2,371 crore, rural development spending rose to Rs 1,632 crore, and spending on sports nearly tripled to Rs 753 crore, with the number of participating companies doubling on-year.
In fiscal 2024, nearly Rs 9,900 crore of CSR spend was reported without an activity-wise break-up, showing better reporting and disclosures. From an industry perspective, banking, financial services and insurance remained the largest contributors with Rs 5,066 crore.
Manufacturing followed at Rs 4,530 crore and the energy sector at Rs 3,067 crore. Together, these sectors accounted for 56% of the total spending. Among states, Maharashtra continued to get the largest chunk of CSR money, netting Rs 11,356 crore, followed by Delhi and Karnataka.
Spending growth was broad-based across major states, although the top 10 states still accounted for about 95% of the total. Implementation models also evolved during the year, with over half of the companies undertaking CSR activities directly.
