CSR Expenditure and Sustainable Development in India

Abstract

When Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 came into force, India became the first country to require a minimum level of corporate social responsibility spending by law rather than simply encourage it. This article looks at what that decade of mandatory spending has actually produced, tracing CSR expenditure from financial year 2014-15 through financial year 2024-25 and setting it against the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Using secondary data from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the National CSR Portal, and a mix of government and industry sources, the article follows the growth in overall CSR spending, breaks down where that spending goes by sector, and asks how well CSR activity under Schedule VII of the Companies Act actually serves specific SDGs. Total CSR expenditure has grown roughly fourfold over the decade, and education and healthcare between them now absorb more than half of it, while rural development, livelihood enhancement, and gender-related spending lag well behind despite mattering just as much, arguably more, to inclusive development outcomes. The article argues that CSR has become a genuinely significant source of development financing in India, but that realising its potential will need firmer outcome reporting, a more deliberate rebalancing of sectoral priorities, and tighter coordination with local development needs than the current mandate requires.