Schedule VII CSR Activities: Full List With Examples (2026)

By SCORE Editorial Team · Prepared by SCORE’s audit, tax and advisory practice · Law stated as on 31 August 2026

Quick answer: Schedule VII CSR activities are the 13 areas where a company’s CSR money can go under the Companies Act, 2013. They cover health, education, gender equality, environment, heritage, veterans, sports, notified funds, research, rural and slum development and disasters. Since May 2026, ZCZP instruments on the Social Stock Exchange also count.

What is Schedule VII of the Companies Act, 2013?

Schedule VII lists the areas in which a company may spend its CSR obligation under Section 135. If a project does not fit one of these areas, the spend does not count towards the 2% requirement.

The list sets out areas, not specific projects. MCA’s CSR FAQs (General Circular 14/2021) say the items are broad-based. They must be read liberally to capture the essence of each subject. So a project need not match the wording exactly. It must clearly serve the purpose of an item.

The Board takes the final call, on the CSR Committee’s recommendation. It should record which item each project falls under and why.

What are the Schedule VII CSR activities? The full list

Here are all 13 items, with typical projects for each.

Item	Area covered	Typical projects
(i)	Hunger, poverty, malnutrition; preventive and general healthcare; sanitation, including Swachh Bharat Kosh; safe drinking water	Mobile health units, nutrition programmes, community toilets, water ATMs
(ii)	Education, including special education; vocational skills for children, women, the elderly and differently abled; livelihood projects	School infrastructure, scholarships, skill centres, digital literacy
(iii)	Gender equality; women’s empowerment; homes and hostels for women and orphans; old-age homes; day-care centres; reducing inequalities faced by socially and economically backward groups	Self-help groups, working women’s hostels, elder care, bridge courses
(iv)	Environmental sustainability, ecological balance, flora and fauna, animal welfare, agroforestry, natural resources, soil, air and water quality, including Clean Ganga Fund	Afforestation, watershed work, animal shelters, lake restoration
(v)	National heritage, art and culture; restoring historic sites and works of art; public libraries; traditional arts and handicrafts	Monument restoration, crafts revival, public libraries
(vi)	Armed forces veterans, war widows and dependants; CAPF and CPMF veterans and their dependants, including widows	Welfare, healthcare and rehabilitation programmes
(vii)	Training to promote rural, nationally recognised, Paralympic and Olympic sports	Academies, athlete coaching, rural sports infrastructure
(viii)	PM National Relief Fund, PM CARES Fund, or other Central Government funds for SC, ST, OBC, minorities and women	Direct contributions
(ix)(a)	Incubators or R&D projects in science, technology, engineering and medicine funded by the Centre, a State, a PSU or their agencies	Grants to government-funded incubators and research projects
(ix)(b)	Publicly funded universities, IITs, national laboratories and specified autonomous bodies doing STEM and medical research for the SDGs	Research grants to IITs, CSIR or ICMR labs
(x)	Rural development projects	Village roads, irrigation, community buildings
(xi)	Slum area development	Housing upgrades, water and sanitation in declared slum areas
(xii)	Disaster management, including relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction	Flood relief, rebuilding after cyclones
(xiii)	Subscription to zero coupon zero principal (ZCZP) instruments on the Social Stock Exchange	Subscribing to ZCZP issues by registered not-for-profits

A “slum area” under item (xi) means an area declared as such by the Central Government, a State Government or another competent authority. Informal settlements that are not declared may fit better under item (i) or (x).

What changed in Schedule VII in 2026?

MCA added item (xiii) through G.S.R. 416(E) dated 27 May 2026. It allows CSR spend by subscribing to ZCZP instruments listed on the Social Stock Exchange segment.

The conditions sit in new Rule 4A of the CSR Rules, inserted by G.S.R. 415(E) on the same date:

• ZCZP spend cannot exceed 10% of the company’s total CSR expenditure for that year.
• Projects funded through ZCZP are exempt from the impact assessment rule.
• The issuing not-for-profit must complete the project within three succeeding financial years.

Several websites carry other “2026 CSR amendments” that do not appear in any notification. Rely only on the Gazette text.

Which industries fit which Schedule VII items?

Schedule VII does not tie items to industries. But projects linked to your skills and locations are easier to run and to defend. Section 135(5) also asks companies to prefer the local areas where they operate.

Industry	Natural fit	Item
Manufacturing	Skills for local youth, water and sanitation near plants, health camps	(i), (ii), (x)
Technology	Digital literacy, STEM education, incubators and research	(ii), (ix)
Banking and financial services	Financial literacy, livelihoods, women’s entrepreneurship	(ii), (iii)
Real estate and construction	Skilling in construction trades, slum upgrades, heritage restoration	(ii), (v), (xi)
Pharma and healthcare	Primary healthcare, nutrition, publicly funded medical research	(i), (ix)
Agri and food	Watershed work, agroforestry, farmer livelihoods	(ii), (iv), (x)

Which activities do not qualify as CSR?

Rule 2(1)(d) of the CSR Rules excludes six kinds of activity, even if they look like a Schedule VII area:

1. Activities in the normal course of the company’s business.
2. Activities outside India, except training Indian sports personnel who represent a State, a Union Territory or India.
3. Contributions to a political party under Section 182.
4. Activities that benefit only employees and their families. “Employee” follows Section 2(k) of the Code on Wages, 2019.
5. Sponsorship that earns the company a marketing benefit for its products or services.
6. Activities done to meet any other statutory obligation.

The fourth and fifth exclusions trip up most companies. A school only for staff children fails. So does a sports event carrying heavy product branding.

How do you check whether a project qualifies?

Use this checklist before the CSR Committee recommends any project.

• ☐ Name the Schedule VII item, and quote the words the project serves.
• ☐ Confirm the project is not part of your normal business.
• ☐ Confirm beneficiaries are not only employees or their families.
• ☐ Check there is no marketing benefit or branded sponsorship.
• ☐ Confirm no other law already requires the activity.
• ☐ Confirm the work is in India, preferring your local areas.
• ☐ Check the implementing agency holds a CSR-1 registration.
• ☐ For ZCZP, check you stay within the 10% cap.
• ☐ Record the reasoning in the Annual Action Plan and Board minutes.

Does the delivery route change eligibility?

The Schedule VII item decides what qualifies. Rule 4 decides how you may deliver it.

A company can run a project itself. It can also work through a Section 8 company, registered trust or registered society with a CSR-1 registration. Entities set up by the Centre or a State, or under a statute, are also eligible. Companies may collaborate with each other on a shared project.

Administrative overheads can be charged only up to 5% of the year’s total CSR spend. Capital assets created from CSR money must be held by an eligible entity, the beneficiaries or a public authority.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Schedule VII list exhaustive?

Yes, CSR spend must fall within one of its items. But MCA has said the entries should be read liberally to capture their essence. A project that clearly serves an item’s purpose can qualify even if the wording differs.

Can CSR money go to a government scheme?

Not as a way to fill a scheme’s funding gap. MCA’s CSR FAQs say CSR should not finance resource gaps in government schemes. You can still run a similar Schedule VII activity yourself, or through an eligible government-set-up entity under Rule 4.

Is a contribution to PM CARES Fund eligible CSR?

Yes. PM CARES Fund is named in item (viii), alongside the PM National Relief Fund. Other Central Government funds qualify only if they meet the welfare purposes listed in that item. MCA’s FAQs say funds not named in Schedule VII, such as state relief funds, do not count.

Can CSR fund research at a private university?

Not under item (ix), which covers government-funded incubators and research projects and publicly funded universities, IITs and national laboratories. A project at a private institution may fit item (ii) as education. Check the facts before you commit funds.

Can CSR be spent outside India?

No, with one exception. Training Indian sports personnel who represent a State, a Union Territory or India abroad is allowed. All other CSR activity must happen in India.

How much of CSR can go into ZCZP instruments?

Up to 10% of the company’s total CSR expenditure for the year, under Rule 4A. Projects funded this way are exempt from impact assessment.

How SCORE helps

SCORE maps each proposed project to a specific Schedule VII item and tests it against the six exclusions. We record the rationale in your Annual Action Plan, so the classification holds up in audit and in Form CSR-2. For one client, we ran a CSR programme across 5 plants with 100% compliance and a 12% cost saving.

Planning next year’s CSR portfolio? Talk to SCORE’s CSR team and ask for our project eligibility checklist.

Sources

• G.S.R. 525(E): amendment to Schedule VII item (ix) (ICAI)
• CSR FAQs (Government of Odisha CSR portal)
• Ministry of Corporate Affairs

This article is general information, not professional advice.