Category: Social Stocks

Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman launched the National CSR Exchange Portal

National CSR Exchange Portal has become a reality in India. It aims at enhancing and aiding the implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives. As Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) became mandatory under the Companies Act 2013, more and more companies have to abide by the legislation making it essential to direct companies with relevant resources and expertise towards the same.

To manage their CSR projects effectively, the government launched the National CSR Exchange Portal earlier this month to celebrate Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav.

The National CSR Exchange Portal is a digital initiative that will enable stakeholders to list, search, interact, engage and manage their CSR projects voluntarily, according to an official release.

This National CSR Exchange Portal will serve as an e-marketplace hosting PAN India social welfare projects where stakeholders such as Implementing agencies can put up their ongoing projects, and companies can select projects for CSR Spending per their preferences and vice versa.

The Exchange Portal has been developed based on recommendations of the High-Level Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility 2018. An Advisory cum Technical Committee was formed for the development of the portal. The Committee was represented by different CSR Stakeholders – CSR Practitioners, Technical Experts, and Civil Society Organizations. The Committee apprised of BSE Sammaan, an initiative of MCA Think Tank: Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs, Confederation of Indian Industry, and Bombay Stock Exchange, which offered similar functionalities as envisaged for the National CSR Exchange Portal.

The exchange was launched by the Union minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who is in charge of the finance and corporate affairs ministries, in the presence of Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Rao Inderjit Singh and senior officials.

The technical committee would prescribe disclosure requirements related to performance, financials and governance and dwelling upon aspects related to social impact and social audit.

Markets regulator SEBI has constituted a technical committee, under the chairmanship of Harsh Kumar Bhanwala, former chairman of Nabard, following the recommendations of a working group on social stock exchange.

The technical committee would prescribe disclosure requirements related to performance, financials and governance and dwelling upon aspects related to social impact and social audit.

The committee will comprise of members including Vikram Gandhi faculty at Harvard Business School and founder of Asha Impact; Ingrid Srinath, founder director, Centre for Social Impact and Philanthropy at Ashoka University; Pushpa Aman Singh, CEO of Guidestar; and Santhosh Jayaram, partner and head (Sustainability) and CSR advisory at KPMG.

In addition, Roopa Kudva, managing director of Omidyar Network India; Shaji Krishnan V, deputy MD of Nabard; Sanjeev Singhal, chairman of sustainability reporting standards board at ICAI; representatives of BSE, NSE and Sebi are also part of the technical group.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday proposed a plan to create a Social Stock Exchange (SSE) under the regulatory ambit of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) that would allow the listing of social enterprises

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday proposed a plan to create a Social Stock Exchange (SSE) under the regulatory ambit of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) that would allow the listing of social enterprises and voluntary organisations to help them raise funds for social welfare activities.

These organisation would be allowed to ‘list” in the same way the private firms list themselves on a stock market.

Presenting her maiden budget in Parliament, Sitharaman said, “It is time to take capital markets closer to the market and meet various social welfare objectives related to inclusive growth and financial inclusion.”

“I propose to initiate steps towards creating an electronic fund-raising platform, a social stock exchange, under SEBI for listing social enterprises and volunteer organisations,” she said.

The minister said that the exchange would help organisations to raise capital through equity, debt or a unit of mutual fund. Social stock exchanges make it easier for investors interesting in social entrepreneurship to find organisation to put money into, with a level of regulation about what the investment goes towards.

They already exist in countries like United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore, South Africa, Brazil, Jamaica and Kenya.

However, this announcement comes at a time when the Centre has been criticised for putting roadblocks on the path of socially inclined non-governmental organisations.