Last year, in November 2019, a High- Level Committee
(HLC) on Corporate Social Responsibility
(CSR) was set up to review the CSR framework and
make recommendations for developing a more robust and coherent CSR
regulatory and policy framework and underlying ecosystem. The
recommendations of HLC aim to facilitate the implementation of CSR
in a more efficient, transparent, and competitive manner by
removing difficulties and ambiguities, ensuring minimum regulations
and maximum disclosures. Earlier this year, in March 2020, Ministry
of Corporate Affairs (MCA) issued a circular,
inviting comments from the public on draft Companies (CSR)
Amendment Rules, 2020.
Recently, on August 24, 2020, MCA issued Companies (CSR
Policy) Amendment Rules, 2020 (CSR Rules) and amended
Schedule VII of the Companies Act, 2013 (Act) vide
a circular and a notification, respectively. Prior to the issue of
CSR Rules, activities undertaken by a company (even if such
activities are in areas and
