SNF to invest Rs 3K crore towards educational programs in 5 years

Shiv Nadar FoundationTechnology giant HCL's philanthropic initiative Shiv Nadar Foundation (SNF) has announced its decision to invest Rs 3,000 crore towards various educational programs in the next five years.

The newly announced amount for educational programs will take the private philanthropic foundation's investment in various philanthropic activities to a whopping $1 billion (Rs 6,000 crore).

SNF, the motivating charitable initiative of HCL's founding chairman Shiv Nadar, is one of the country's biggest philanthropic institutions. It invested more than Rs 1,800 crore in various philanthropic activities till March this year. It aims to invest additional Rs 1,220 crore towards various philanthropic initiatives by the end of the current financial year.

Mr. Nadar also lamented that India Inc is not contributing enough towards philanthropy activities.

When asked for a comment on the topic, he said, No, India Inc is not doing enough and ought to do more . and this is where the mandatory 2% CSR spend will come into the picture."

The New Companies Act, 2013, makes it mandatory for all profitable companies with a sizeable business to spend at least 2 per cent of their three-year average profit on corporate social responsibility (CSR) works every year.