India's top 200 firms run 12,500 CSR projects averaging ₹1.6 crore each: Give Grants report

India’s CSR capital is highly concentrated, with 200 companies accounting for 49% of total spend. The project sizes also vary sharply as the top 200 companies run about 12,500 projects averaging ₹1.6 crore each, the next 300 run about 6,600 projects averaging ₹61 lakh, and the next 29,046 companies run more than 69,600 projects averaging just ₹18 lakh each, says latest edition of ‘dus spoke India Inc 2026: Trends, Insights, & Voices’ report released by Give Grants.

The annual analysis of CSR spend in India draws on Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) filings of more than 29,500 companies, surveys of 67 CSR leaders and 200 non-profit leaders, and publicly available leadership data for 100 of India's top CSR-spending companies.

Highlighting the contribution of leading Indian corporate, the report notes that Tata Steel accounts for 41% of Jharkhand's corporate social responsibility (CSR) spend while Reliance accounts for 21% of Gujarat's CSR and five mining and metals companies together account for 53% of Odisha's CSR. Similarly, ONGC, REC, NTPC, and GAIL together account for 30% of Delhi's CSR, even though their main operating assets are in other states.

The report finds that CSR is becoming a specialised corporate function, with dedicated roles and teams with domain-specific training. Among the top 100 companies analysed, 44% have a dedicated CSR head, while 56% have CSR heads who also have additional responsibilities. Dedicated CSR heads more often hold a development-sector degree: 55%, compared to 25% among heads with additional responsibilities. Among CSR teams surveyed, 85% cite capability built within the team as a source of expertise and 78% cite NPO partners' expertise, well ahead of CSR consultants at 33%.

 “Over the past decade, mandatory CSR has successfully built the compliance foundations, and is now well placed to take a shot at complex systemic challenges. It cannot do it alone. However, by working smartly with the government across levels, and by engaging its employees to do good, it can punch well above its weight. The next decade belongs to leaders who look beyond just grants: leaders who mobilize their workforce, take ambitious risks, and deploy high-conviction capital to solve challenges that mainstream public budgets miss, or cannot solve, or need help with” Sumit Tayal, CEO, Give, said.

The report also shows that companies are yet to consider SEBI's Social Stock Exchange (SSE) initiative as a major avenue for CSR spend. It said that while non-profits are waiting and watching the SSE with significant interest, CSR's reaction so far has been tepid. ‘Half of the non-profits surveyed are already registered on the SSE (16%) or considering it (35%), but only 3% of CSR respondents are likely to use it this year, and 60% are unlikely to use it’, the report said.