The Gurgaon district administration is contemplating setting up a Gurgaon Community Foundation (GCF) to encourage public-private community convergence under the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) provision in the Companies Act, 2013. GCF will address the challenges being faced by Gurgaon.
Gurgaon, which touts itself as the Millennium City, has a strong presence of corporate houses. As of 2013, about 250 of the Fortune 500 companies have a base in the city. The Companies Act, 2013, suggests that companies should give preference to local area while spending their CSR budget. The administration wants to make use of this opportunity to address some of the critical challenges being faced by the city.
The GCF will be a not-for-profit organisation (registered as a society) under the Chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner with representatives of different stakeholders, including government, private sector and civil society organisations. The stakeholders will bring their respective strengths and resources together to put collective efforts for community development.
Transparency and accountability The role of the GCF shall be to identify innovative and cost-effective social projects and recommend them to the companies and facilitate their implementation. It will also help in coordinating the development efforts of the Government with that of the private sector.
The companies will be encouraged to support innovative and cost-effective social projects through their CSR activities. As part of the Board of GCF, the companies shall also suggest critical challenges and problems being faced by the city and monitor the progress and measure the results. This will help in bringing transparency and accountability in the implementation of the CSR initiatives.
It is mandated in the Companies Act, 2013, that every company, which has a net worth of Rs.500 crore or more or a turnover of Rs.1,000 crore or more or a net profit of Rs.5 crore or more during any financial year will spend at least 2 per cent of the average net profits of the company made during the three immediately preceding financial years, in pursuance of its CSR policy.
