**5. Companies (Amendment) Act 2019**

The recent amendment to the Companies Act, which was notified on the 31st of July 2019, has once more brought CSR issues to the forefront. Section 21 of the Companies (Amendment) Act 2019 makes several important alterations to the provision. These alterations will have a significant impact on the how companies contribute two percent of their net profits towards corporate social responsibility. The primary change that has happened is that although CSR largely operated on a comply or explain basis, after this amendment, CSR in India must be seen as being completely mandatory. The amendment now mandates that companies must spend two percent of their profits within a three-year period, as it entails that unspent funds must be transferred into Government-run funds. It also introduces rigorous penalties where companies fail to spend two percent or transfer the amount to the requisite funds. This has resulted in taking 'CSR in India to an extreme level, which deviates considerably from the concept (embedded in voluntarism) as it is understood globally' [20]. A detailed discussion of the amendment follows.
