The eighth edition of Sattva Consulting’s annual State of CSR in India report examines corporate CSR spending against India’s development indicators to assess whether funding is reaching areas with the greatest needs. The findings highlight disparities in the allocation of resources at a time when India’s progress towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remains uneven.
According to the analysis, only 33.3 per cent of SDG indicators are on track, while 42.7 per cent show limited progress and 24 per cent are worsening. The findings underscore the need to move beyond broad sector-level funding allocations and focus on specific development challenges and their underlying causes.
Education, healthcare, livelihoods and skilling, environment, and rural development collectively account for more than 80 per cent of CSR funding. Although these sectors address core development needs, a closer examination reveals that funding is concentrated within particular sub-sectors. This presents an opportunity to channel CSR capital towards unmet needs and emerging development priorities within these broader areas.
Geographic disparities are equally evident in the distribution of CSR funding. The five states with the highest multidimensional poverty receive just Rs 94 in CSR funding per capita, compared with Rs 455 in the five lowest-need states.
Bihar’s Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is nearly five times that of Maharashtra. Despite this disparity, Maharashtra receives nearly 19 times more CSR funding per capita than Bihar. Between FY2021–22 and FY2024–25, Maharashtra received an additional Rs 3,381.9 crore in CSR funding, while the corresponding increase in Bihar stood at Rs 292.5 crore.
Although CSR funding in higher-need states and districts is beginning to increase, the growth has yet to translate into allocations commensurate with the scale of their development challenges.
The report identifies considerable scope for a more targeted distribution of funds. Redirecting an additional 5% of FY2024–25 CSR funding towards high-need districts would triple the funding they currently receive, according to the analysis.
Srikrishna Sridhar Murthy, Co-founder and CEO of Sattva Consulting, said that while CSR has brought scale and predictability to funding, addressing India’s persistent challenges requires greater flexibility in how the capital is deployed.
“CSR has brought scale and predictability to funding, but addressing India’s persistent challenges requires greater agility in how this capital is deployed. Corporate philanthropy cannot remain static in its approach. It must continuously reassess where it can make the greatest difference, directing capital towards critical gaps where regions have been unable to break inertia and other forms of capital are less likely to flow,” Murthy said.
The report recommends that companies leverage partnerships, innovation and technology to increase the effectiveness of CSR initiatives. These approaches could help position CSR as a multiplier of impact, enabling development outcomes that extend beyond what funding alone can achieve.
The findings highlight the importance of aligning CSR allocations more closely with regional development needs, particularly in areas where poverty levels remain high and existing funding is insufficient relative to the scale of the challenges.
Sattva Consulting is a global impact consulting firm from India. Since 2009, the organisation has worked with communities, businesses and governments to achieve societal impact at scale. It believes that civil society, business and government all have a critical role to play in building an equitable and sustainable world. The firm partners with stakeholders through advisory and orchestration services, knowledge and data platforms built as public goods for the ecosystem, and collaborative solutions and partnerships. More information is available at sattva.co.in.
India Data Insights (IDI), an initiative by Sattva Consulting, aims to empower India’s development sector with actionable, ready-to-use data insights to support better-informed decisions and maximise impact. Built as a public good, IDI consolidates public data across SDG practice areas on a unified platform, providing visualisations, interactive resources, blogs, ready-to-use charts and dashboards. More information is available at India Data Insights (indiadatainsights.com).
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