CSR Ticket Size
Why India’s CSR cheque stays near ₹35 lakh — concentrators vs sprayers, education and health as volume machines, and a playbook to design for depth.
By Dr. Hemant L. Patel · National CSR Portal filings, FY 2014-15 to FY 2024-25
Why India's CSR Cheque Size Won't Budge
Spend grew ~3× in a decade. The average project is still about ₹35 lakh. Five forces explain why Indian CSR scales by adding projects — not by raising ticket size.
Read part 1 →Concentrators vs Sprayers: Two CSR Strategies Hiding in the Same Data
The national average is produced by two portfolio geometries: rare concentrators with large rows, and common sprayers with many small tickets — same Section 135, opposite design.
Read part 2 →The CSR Sector Ticket League: Why “We Work in Education” Tells You Almost Nothing
Rank CSR by average cheque per sector — not total crore — and the podium changes. Education and health dominate spend but sit near the national mean; that is why ticket size will not budge.
Read part 3 →The Geography of the Cheque: High-Spend States Are Not High-Ticket States
Rank CSR by average ticket per geography and the map flips: Pan-India and Odisha run fat cheques; Maharashtra-shaped volume states dominate spend with ordinary tickets.
Read part 4 →The ₹12 Lakh Company: Most of Corporate India Is Not in the Average
₹35 lakh is the spend-weighted average. The typical company-year files ~₹11–12 lakh per project and ~₹23 lakh for the whole year. Meet the median — and why it cannot move the national ticket.
Read part 5 →Education and Health Are CSR’s Volume Machines
Education and health are ~52% of CSR spent and ~48% of rows, at ~₹37–40 lakh a ticket. They are not the fat causes — they are the volume machines that are the average.
Read part 6 →What Would Actually Raise India’s CSR Ticket Size
Average ticket = spend ÷ rows. Five counterfactuals that would move ₹35 lakh — and five that look busy while leaving the mean exactly where it is.
Read part 7 →The CSR Ticket Size Playbook
Part 7 was physics. This is Monday: diagnose your geometry, playbook by annual CSR budget, and a 90-day plan that does not need a new Schedule VII.
Read part 8 →The Agency Took the Cheque
Direct, own foundation, or NGO: the pen changed hands over a decade. The cheque did not grow. The channel that absorbed the volume is the one that got thinner.
Read the special →