Lucknow, Feb 22 (IANS): Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary Durga Shankar Mishra has said that Uttar Pradesh will soon organise a CSR Summit.

The state has witnessed a surge in corporate social responsibility (CSR) funding in the past few years.

According to data from the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs, spending on Uttar Pradesh has gone up from Rs 148.9 crore in 2014-15 to about Rs 1,330.6 crore in 2021-22 -- an almost nine-fold jump.

Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Minister Anil Rajbhar said on Thursday: "There is no place better than Uttar Pradesh for effective utilisation of CSR funds."

Alok Varma, Project Director, Samuday and My Clean City, HCL Foundation, said: "We began with the idea that UP has been part of our growth story, so we must be part of the state's growth story. The promise made has been able to impact the lives of 5.1 million people positively. In fact, models from Uttar Pradesh are now showing the way in other places."

CEO Nand Ghar and director group communication, Vedanta Group, Ritu Jhingon shared that 33 per cent of the 6,000 Nandghars built by her company were in Uttar Pradesh. Head of education at Reliance Foundation, Nilay Ranjan said their CSR initiatives have reached out to 2.3 million people in Uttar Pradesh in the past decade.

"India's CSR compliance ecosystem would have spent over Rs 2 lakh crore by March 2024. Of this, Uttar Pradesh has got an average of Rs 1,000 crore per year, which is much less considering the state's population," said Bhomik Shah, CEO, CSRBox, a platform for CSR analytics and partnerships.

Minister of State Aseem Arun said: "Akin to the guard's compartment in the double engine government, it will ensure that no compartment is left behind."