MCA issued notification no G.S.R. 526(E) dated 24th August 2020, to amend Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rules, 2014. The amendment provides that Expenditure on research and development related to Covid-19 to be part of CSR activities.
Text of the notification is as follows:
In the Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rules, 2014 (hereinafter referred to as the said rules), in rule 2, in sub-rule (1), in clause (e), the following proviso shall be inserted, namely:-
“Provided that any company engaged in research and development activity of new vaccine, drugs and medical devices in their normal course of business may undertake research and development activity of new vaccine, drugs and medical devices related to COVID-19 for financial years 2020-21, 2021-22 and 2022-23 subject to the conditions that:
(i) such research and development activities shall be carried out in collaboration with any of the institutes or organisations mentioned in item (ix) of Schedule VII to the Act.
(ii) details of such activity shall be disclosed separately in the Annual Report on CSR included in the Board’s Report”.
