India: Trading In CSR Credits?

Minister for Corporate Affairs, Salman Khurshid, has mooted the idea of rewarding companies with strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, by creating a system through which their  CSR endeavours might be traded in, along the lines of the ‘carbon credit’ system.Addressing a conference on ‘Companies Bill 2009’, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) in New Delhi recently, Khurshid suggested that the incentives for CSR could provide fiscal incentives that are proportionate to the CSR initiatives being undertaken. The Economic Times reported Khurshid to have said:

Today, for charity, you get tax exemptions and for CSR you get nothing.

The Economic Times report continued quoting Khurshid as saying:

I think there must be a way of quantifying it (CSR) and there must ultimately be available a trader or an exchange to deal in CSR credits.

Khurshid said the Ministry is considering ideas about how to set off CSR expenses through exemptions or other means.

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