Reliance Industries Ltd spends over Rs 700 crore on CSR in FY'14

MUMBAI: India's largest private sector enterprise Reliance Industries has spent over Rs 700 crore of its net profit on corporate social responsibility last fiscal and significant sums went into healthcare and rural development initiatives.

According to the FY14 annual report, Reliance's CSR spend carried out through Reliance Foundation -- stood at 3.24 per cent of its net profit, which is amongst the highest in the country.

While 59 per cent of the Rs 712-crore sum was spent on healthcare of the beneficiary population, 23 per cent were utilised for rural development, 11 per cent on education under which it sponsors poor children for higher education, and 7 per cent on other activities.

The new Companies Act, enacted last fiscal, mandates every company with a net worth of Rs 100 crore to set aside minimum 2 per cent of their three-year average annual net profit for CSR activities.

RIL is the first private enterprise to cross the Rs 4-lakh crore sales mark last fiscal at Rs 4,01,302 crore. It has a credit rating that is two notches above the sovereign from S&P, making it the only Asian energy firm to have such a rating. It is also one of the most profitable companies in the country.

It contributed 14.7 per cent of the country's exports of a little over $ 312 billion in the fiscal at $ 46 billion. Exports formed 69 per cent of its sales.

RIL carries out its CSR activities through Reliance Foundation, headed by chairman Mukesh Ambani's wife Nita, while executive director Nikhil Meswani and three independent directors-Dharam Vir Kapur, Yogendra Tridevi and RA Mashelkar-also oversee the work.

The company said during the reporting year, its CSR activities benefitted over 1 million lives, spanning over 5,500 villages and urban locations. It also benefitted over 407,000 farming households under which it has formed over 460 village farmer associations.