Fund donated by corporate towards tackle of COVID-19 spread treated as corporate social responsibility activity

“Keeping in view of the spread of novel Corona virus (COVID-19) in India, its declaration as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), and, decision of the Government of India to treat this as a notified disaster, it is hereby clarified that spending of CSR funds for COVID-19 is eligible CSR activity,” the notification said.

The ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) announced that funds spent to tackle the Covid-19 outbreak will be counted as the corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity of companies

The MCA has said that funds may be spent for various activities related to Covid-19 under items (i) and (vii) of Schedule VII relating to promotion of healthcare, including preventive healthcare and sanitation and disaster management. The items in Schedule VII will be interpreted broadly for this purpose, according to the MCA.

The circular clarified that the broad based items as per Schedule 7 of the CSR policy, which deals with the activities that constitute CSR activity, may be interpreted liberally for this purpose.

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