Corporate Social Responsibility (“CSR”) is strongly connected with the principles of Sustainability; an organization should make decisions based not only on financial factors, but also on the social and environmental consequences. Corporates must recognize that their business activities have wide impact on the societies in which they operate.
This policy shall apply to all CSR initiatives and activities taken up at the various work‐centres and locations of Zerodha Capital Private Limited (hereinafter referred to as “the Company”), for the benefit of different segments of the society, specifically the deprived, underprivileged and differently abled persons.
The business philosophy and foundation of Zerodha Capital Private Limited is built on the strong belief of excellence in the areas of economic, social and environmental development. The thrust of the business ideology is to go beyond the deployment of financial resources and be catalyst in societal, entrepreneurial and technological change which is intertwined closely with creativity, innovation and responsibility. In line with its ideology, the company shall contribute and participate in the Corporate Social Responsibility ("CSR") projects which can bring significant development and change in the lives and development of the local community and society at large.
“Act” means the Companies Act, 2013 read with Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rules, 2014 (including any statutory modification(s) or re-enactment(s) for the time being in force).
“Corporate Social Responsibility” or “CSR” means the activities undertaken by a Company in pursuance of its statutory obligation laid down in section 135 of the Act, but shall not include the following:
The average net profit for the purpose of determining the spending on CSR activities is to be computed in accordance with the provisions of Section 198 of the Companies Act, 2013 and will also be exclusive of the items given under rule 2(1)(h) of the Companies (CSR Policy) Rules, 2014. Section 198 of the Act specifies certain additions/deletions (adjustments) to be made while calculating the net profit of a company (mainly it excludes capital payments/receipts, income tax, set-off of past losses).
Profit Before Tax (PBT) is used for computation of net profit under Section 135 of the Act.
As per Rule 2(1)(h) of the Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility) Rules, 2014 “net profit” means the net profit of a company as per its financial statement prepared in accordance with the applicable provisions of the Act, but shall not include the following, namely:
“CSR Expenditure” shall include all expenditure including contribution to corpus, or on projects or programs relating to CSR activities specified in this policy as approved by Board. Expenses on activities other than the ones prescribed in this policy will not be considered as a CSR Expenditure. Further, the CSR projects or programs or activities undertaken in India shall amount to CSR Expenditure only.
The followings are the wide categories of the activities under which the Company may work to undertake CSR activities:
The implementation of the Company’s CSR programmes shall be through monetary contribution made to such institutions directly from the Company in its own name Zerodha Capital Private Limited.
The Company shall undertake its CSR activities in line with its Board approved Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Policy and shall be implemented directly by the Company.
The Company may also undertake CSR activities through any trust, society or Section 8 Company which is not established by the Company or Subsidiary or Associate Company, provided such trust, society or section 8 company is having an established track record of three years in undertaking similar programs or projects or where the corpus is created exclusively for a purpose directly relatable to a subject covered in Schedule VII of the Act.
The Company may also collaborate with other companies for undertaking projects or programs or CSR activities in such a manner that the CSR Committees of respective companies are in a position to report separately on such projects or programs.
The Company shall utilize at least 2 percent of the average net profit of the Company made during the last three (3) immediately preceding financial years in the CSR activities as enumerated above in this policy. In any case, if in any year company fails to spend such amount on CSR, the Board will, in its report made under Section 134 (3) (o) of Companies Act, 2013, specify the reasons for not spending the amount.
Any surplus arising out of the CSR projects, programs or activities will not form part of the business profit of the Company and shall be treated in the following manner:
As per Section 135 (9) where the amount to be spent by a company under sub-section (5) of Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 does not exceed fifty lakh rupees, the requirement under sub-section (1) of the said section for constitution of the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee shall not be applicable and the functions of such Committee provided under this section shall, in such cases, be discharged by the Board of Directors of such company.
As the amount to be spend under sub-section (5) of Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 constitution of the CSR Committee shall not be applicable to our Company.
The responsibilities of the Board concerning CSR are as follows:
To ensure effective implementation of the CSR programs undertaken a monitoring mechanism will be put in place by the Company. The CSR group will conduct impact studies on a periodic basis, about effectiveness of CSR Activity on the society. The progress of CSR programs under implementation will be reported to Board of Directors on an annual basis.
Any person as authorised by the Board of the Company will obtain feedback from beneficiaries about the programs and report to the Board of Directors, the feedback received from the beneficiaries of CSR Activity. Appropriate documentation of Company’s CSR Policy, annual CSR activities, executing partners, and expenditure entailed will be undertaken on a regular basis and the same will be available on the website of the Company. CSR initiatives of the Company will also be reported in the Annual Report of the Company containing particulars as specified in the Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rules, 2014.
The Board on its own and/ or as per the recommendations of the concerned persons can amend this Policy, as and when required. Any or all provisions of the CSR Policy would be subject to revision/amendment in accordance with the provisions of the Act thereunder on the subject, from time to time.
The Board of Directors of the Company (“Board”) has reviewed the a CSR policy at its meeting held on 26th June 2025.
Over the past years, we have established a foundational framework for economic, social and environmental initiatives, within the organization as well as outside. As a responsible human organisation, we are committed towards the above objective and are keen on developing a sustainable business model to ensure and activate our future growth.