328 firms invested Rs 1,653 cr for skilling, training in 5 years of mandatory CSR: Report

Thanks to compulsory philanthropy that was made mandatory by an Act of Parliament in April 2014, as many as 328 large companies have pumped in Rs 1,653 crore towards 775 skilling and training projects through their corporate social responsibility efforts during 2015-20, says a report.

The previous UPA government had made it mandatory for companies with Rs 500 crore annual revenue to set aside 2 per cent of their net income towards inclusive growth in what was christened as corporate social responsibility (CSR) by amending Section 135 of the Companies Act. Since then tens of thousands of rupees have been flowing into the inclusive growth schemes.

According to a recent KPMG India report, the top 100 companies have collectively contributed Rs 35,077 crore towards CSR between 2014-15 and September of 2019-20.

Between 2014-15 and 2019-20, 328 companies contributed Rs 1,653 crore towards 775 skilling/reskilling and training projects through their CSR efforts, a report by Nasscom Foundation, JP Morgan and Sattva Consulting said on Friday.

The study was conducted between April 2020 and February 2021 and analyzed data across 27 skill development organizations and 33,000 candidates trained by these organizations.

The report noted that the strong push for skill development over the last 15 years has resulted in a fast-evolving skilling ecosystem, the relevance of which has only amplified the need for timely and modern skilling/training to recover, re-build and reimagine from the pandemic disrupted world.

According to the report, every rupee invested in skill training programmes has returned Rs 2-19 as measured based on the candidate's salary, with the median being Rs 6.67.

Graduates who received integrated training programmes while in college have fetched 53 per cent higher salaries than those who were trained after their graduation, the study said adding that digital literacy in sector-specific programmes such as healthcare and BFSI, has fetched 39 per cent higher salaries.

The report also found that lockdowns resulted in changes in training practices as within six months of the lockdown, as much as 88 per cent of skill-training organizations found ways to stay updated with the change in employer needs, candidate aspirations, funding and policy ecosystem.