Firms can spend CSR funds on setting up medical oxygen generation and storage plants: MCA

Corporate funds spent on creating health infrastructure for Covid-19 care, such as establishment of medical oxygen generation and storage plants, would count as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) expenditure, the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) said in a circular on Wednesday.
Firms are also permitted to undertake projects and activities in collaboration with other firms using CSR funds, subject to CSR rules and guidelines, the ministry said.

Manufacturing and supply of oxygen concentrators, ventilators, cylinders and other medical equipment for countering Covid-19 would be eligible under companies’ CSR spends, the circular said.

These would fall under items relating to promotion of health care, including preventive health care and disaster management, under Schedule VII of the Companies Act.

The move comes in the backdrop of a severe shortage of medical oxygen and related equipment across states with people dying for want of oxygen as fresh Covid-19 cases continue to spiral upwards.

India reported about 382,315 fresh cases in the last 24 hours along with the highest daily toll of 3,780 deaths.

In a previous circular in April, the MCA had clarified that setting up of Covid care facilities and makeshift hospitals would also count as CSR spends.

The ministry had also suggested that corporates operating on a work-from-home basis could convert their offices into temporary Covid care facilities.