The government should formulate a policy on corporate social responsibility spending for all companies, State Minister for Telecom Tarana Halim said yesterday.
“A national policy can enhance the companies' accountability on CSR spending,” she said at a roundtable on “CSR in sustainable business structure” organised by the daily Ittefaq, a Bangla-language newspaper, at its office in Dhaka.
Tarana said companies spend huge sums on CSR, but they need to be careful about the misuse of the funds. “A policy needs to clearly mention that no conflict of interest should arise.”
Within a short time, the telecom division will direct Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission to formulate a separate policy for the telecom companies in this regard, she said.
Parvez Iqbal, member for tax policy at the National Board of Revenue, said NBR gave huge importance to CSR and that is why they are also offering rebate from 2009. Companies can get 10 percent rebate if they spend CSR funds on 23 selected sectors.
“This is huge scope and some companies have even got 20 percent rebate on their CRS spending,” said Iqbal.
Tasmima Hossain, the acting editor of the Ittefaq, said the government needs to formulate a policy and also ensure its implementation.
“In the policy, if we can put emphasis on CSR spending for human resource development, it can directly help build this generation of youth,” said Hossain.
She also suggested including elderly heath care in the NBR's selected list for CSR activities. Citing an example, Shawkat Hossain Masum, business editor of the Prothom Alo, said a bank funded a picnic under its CSR spending, which is a complete violation of rules.
“In our investigation, we have seen companies, especially banks, are spending huge sums on CSR projects to get political benefits or satisfy a specific segment of people,” Masum added. Ekram Kabir, a vice president at Robi, said the operator spends a hefty amount on CSR, but it makes sure those projects become self-sustainable.
Jamal Uddin, a journalist at the Ittefaq, in his keynote, said banks spent Tk 528 crore on CSR projects in 2015, which dropped to Tk 510 crore last year.
Source: http://www.thedailystar.net/business/formulate-policy-csr-spending-tarana-1361383