Nine corporates contributed nearly INR 1,800 crore to PM-CARES Fund

Philanthropy & CSR: In addition to public sector companies which contributed INR 2,105 crore to the Prime Minister’s Citizen Assistance and Relief in Emergency Situations (PM-CARES) Fund, some of India’s largest corporations and banks also donated to the fund. 

Corporate contributions include INR 500 crore each from Reliance Industries and the Tata Group, INR 400 crore from the Aditya Birla Group, INR 100 crore from Adani Enterprises, and INR 175 crore in total from ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, and Kotak Mahindra.

According to the 2019-20 public records of these companies and banks, these contributions were made within just four days of the launch of the fund on March 28th, 2020, following the COVID-19 outbreak.

Drawing from records pulled under the RTI Act, The Indian Express reported that 38 PSUs used their CSR funds to contribute to PM-CARES. Educational institutions such as Navodaya schools, IITs, IIMs, and central universities also contributed INR 21.81 crore.

On March 31st, 2020, the fund’s official website however listed its corpus at INR 3,076.62 crore, of which INR 3,075.85 crore was marked as “voluntary contributions”.

The Prime Minister’s Office, which manages the fund, has repeatedly declined to furnish details of contributions received, stating that PM-CARES is “not a public authority under the ambit of the RTI Act”.

Read this article to learn more about the PM-CARES Fund.

Fundraising & Communications: The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has issued a circular extending the validity of FCRA registration certificates to September 30th, 2021. This applies to all FCRA licences that have expired or will expire between September 29th, 2020 and May 31st, 2021. The decision to extend the deadline has been driven by the exigencies arising from the COVID-19 situation.

FCRA refers to the Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act 2010, which permits charitable organisations based in India to raise funds from foreign sources.

The order also clarified that nonprofits that have already opened an account and have the requisite permission to receive foreign aid, can henceforth receive it only in these newly-opened accounts.

The FCRA law was amended in September 2020 to include a clause that mandated that all nonprofits receiving foreign aid must necessarily open an account in State Bank of India’s New Delhi Main Branch. The government had initially set the deadline for this account opening as March 31st, 2021; it later extended it to June 30th, 2021 after several nonprofits argued in court that there had been delays because necessary approvals from MHA had not been received.

Several organisations have not been able to receive foreign funds during the crisis caused by the second wave, and this has impacted their COVID-19 relief efforts. Relaxing the foreign funding rules could significantly help organisations ramp up their operations to help individuals, supply critical healthcare equipment, and respond to communities in rural areas.

Read this article to know how amending the FCRA can have unforeseen implications.

Philanthropy & CSR: The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has issued a circular that allows corporate spending on health infrastructure for COVID-19 care to qualify as corporate social responsibility (CSR) expenditure.

This includes setting up medical oxygen generation and storage plants, manufacturing and supply of oxygen concentrators, ventilators, cylinders, and other medical equipment to counter COVID-19.  

The announcement comes at a time when all efforts are being directed towards expediting efforts to support the country’s healthcare infrastructure.

According to the circular, companies can now undertake projects and activities in collaboration with other companies using CSR funds. Additionally, they can contribute to specified research and development projects, as well as publicly funded universities and certain organisations that conduct research in science, technology, engineering, and medicine.

The government had earlier clarified that setting up makeshift hospitals and temporary COVID-19 care facilities would also be considered a CSR activity. Rajesh Verma, the Corporate Affairs Secretary, has requested businesses to consider converting vacant office buildings into COVID-19 facilities to cater to the rapidly increasing caseload.

Read this article to understand why media attention on COVID-19 deaths due to lack of oxygen in big cities has skewed donor priorities.