How Businesses Are Becoming Partners in Development
Corporate Social Responsibility has become an important part of India’s social-development landscape.
India was the first country to legally mandate CSR spending for qualifying companies through Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013. Over the following decade, corporate giving has evolved from relatively ad-hoc donations towards more structured programmes aligned with social and development priorities.
According to CRISIL’s CSR Yearbook 2025, qualifying listed companies collectively spent more than ₹1.22 lakh crore on CSR activities between FY2014 and FY2024. Nearly 63% of this amount—around ₹77,000 crore—was spent between FY2020 and FY2024.
Education and skill development represented the largest allocation in FY2024, accounting for 18% of CSR spending, followed by healthcare and sanitation at 14%.
More recent data shows the trend continuing. CRISIL reported that CSR spending by listed companies increased approximately 17.5% to ₹22,563 crore in FY2025, compared with ₹19,208 crore in FY2024. Education and skill development alone accounted for around ₹9,182 crore in FY2025.
These numbers demonstrate how corporate resources can increasingly become part of India’s wider social-development ecosystem.
But CSR is most meaningful when financial resources are combined with genuine understanding of community needs.
The future of CSR is not only about how much businesses give, but about how effectively that contribution creates opportunity and impact.