‘Easy data access an advantage’

Fear of improprieties getting detected is making firms compliant, says Jaitley

Data bank: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley unveiling the National CSR Portal and Corporate Data Portal.

Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said the ease with which corporate data is available online had put pressure on companies to ensure compliance. It was also helping in preventing improprieties due to the fear of the possibility of such wrongdoings being detected, he said, unveiling the National CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) Data Portal and Corporate Data Portal.

‘Open to public gaze’

“It’s now all open to public gaze (which) has its own advantages. There is a pressure to make sure that compliance takes place. Everyone realises that if there is any impropriety, the possibility of it being detected is going to be very high,” Mr. Jaitley said.

He added, “Therefore this transparency is good for the system, good for corporate India, it’s good that your details to the extent that are to be made public, are being made public.”

The National CSR Data Portal will capture information on CSR activities carried out by eligible companies, an official statement said. “The CSR portal contains all filed information, which can generate predefined reports with respect to expenditure across states, districts and development sectors,” it said, adding that the portal also provided for feedback on projects to be given by registered users. The open access to data is expected to help researchers, improve quality of data filed by companies as well as involve intended beneficiaries in giving valuable feedback to companies. It will help in institutionalising and consolidating the CSR activities.

The Corporate Data Portal aims at making all the financial and non-financial information of the companies available in a user friendly format to the general public.

P.P. Chaudhary, Minister of State for Corporate Affairs and Law and Justice suggested that CSR projects should be geo-tagged and aimed at helping the poor. Injeti Srinivas, Secretary, Corporate Affairs said the CSR portal would facilitate social audit of CSR projects, besides bringing together CSR contributors, implementers and beneficiaries, in addition to aligning CSR activities with national development goals. Chandrajit Banerjee, managing trustee, National Foundation for Corporate Governance and director general of the industry body CII, said the Corporate Data Portal would help in becoming a potent enabler for greater transparency and creation of tools for stronger corporate governance.