ShodhPatra: International Journal of Science and Humanities

Transforming Corporate Social Responsibility in India: A Decade of Investment Trends and Sectoral Reallocation, 2014–2025

India's Companies Act, 2013 (Section 135) established the world's first statutory mandate requiring qualifying firms to spend at least two per cent of average net profit on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), converting a voluntary corporate practice into a quasi-fiscal instrument of development finance. This paper synthesises the first decade of implementation (FY 2014–15 to FY 2023–24), with reference to FY 2024–25 disclosures, drawing on Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) filings, the Economic Survey of India, and peer-reviewed evaluations of the mandate. Aggregate CSR expenditure rose from ₹10,065.93 crore (FY 2014–15) to ₹34,908.75 crore (FY 2023–24) and ₹40,794 crore (FY 2024–25), a more than fourfold increase, while participating companies grew from 16,548 to over 29,500. Education and healthcare have consistently absorbed more than half of total spending, while niche themes such as animal welfare, senior citizens' welfare and natural-resource conservation recorded triple-digit percentage growth between FY 2019–20 and FY 2023–24, albeit from a small base. Spending remains concentrated among a small set of large firms and a handful of industrialised states. The paper situates these empirical patterns within the academic debate on the efficacy of mandated versus voluntary CSR and derives policy-relevant implications for regulatory design, sectoral rebalancing and impact measurement.