In this paper, an attempt has been made to understand and explain the concept of corporate social responsibility, especially in the light of the set of legal provisions that now mandates CSR spending by companies that meet the criteria specified under Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013, and to empirically analyse the annual CSR spending pattern of the states, union territories and regions in India. The results of the statistical tests used in the study indicate that in India, the amount of CSR expenditure has been more or less the same each year across the states, union territories and regions. However, the analysis also reveals unbalanced overall CSR spending across regions in India, thereby pointing to the need for further government intervention in this respect.

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Keywords: CSR, Pattern of CSR Spending, Sec 135, Companies Act, Effects of Legal Mandate of CSR.

In this paper, an attempt has been made to understand and explain the concept of corporate social responsibility, especially in the light of the set of legal provisions that now mandates CSR spending by companies that meet the criteria specified under Section 135 of the Companies Act 2013, and to empirically analyse the annual CSR spending pattern of the states, union territories and regions in India. The results of the statistical tests used in the study indicate that in India, the amount of CSR expenditure has been more or less the same each year across the states, union territories and regions. However, the analysis also reveals unbalanced overall CSR spending across regions in India, thereby pointing to the need for further government intervention in this respect.

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Keywords: CSR, Pattern of CSR Spending, Sec 135, Companies Act, Effects of Legal Mandate of CSR.