THE BLUESKY VIEW
Evidence. Impact. Better Decisions.
Is Your CSR project “Mental Health Programme” Creating Impact – or Just Delivering CSR Activities?
34.34 lakh calls to Tele-MANAS. 53 Tele-MANAS cells across 36 States and Union Territories. A new mental-health wellness centre launched for more than 20,000 employees in Chennai.
https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2243766®=3&lang=1
India’s mental-health conversation is moving from awareness to access. But for corporates investing in mental-health programmes, counting CSR activities is not the same as knowing what changed, and there is another question that deserves attention:
What changed because of the intervention?
- An awareness webinar is an activity.
- An employee knowing that support exists is an output.
- An employee who needs support actually accessing appropriate care—and experiencing meaningful change—is closer to an outcome.
And this is where CSR impact assessment becomes important.
The mental-health conversation is changing.The scale of demand for mental-health support is increasingly visible.
- As of March 2026, the Government reported that Tele-MANAS had handled more than 34.34 lakh calls since its launch in October 2022. The service had expanded to 53 Tele-MANAS cells across 36 States and Union Territories and was available in 20 languages.
- More recently, the Greater Chennai Corporation opened a mental-health wellness centre for its more than 20,000 employees, explicitly aiming to address stigma and provide counselling and psychological support.
These developments point to an important shift: mental health is increasingly being recognised not simply as an individual issue, but as a question of access, support systems and institutional responsibility.
For companies, that creates an opportunity—but also a measurement challenge.
Does the mental health programme qualify for CSR?
Mental-health interventions can fall within the health-related activities permitted under Schedule VII, Item (i) of the Companies Act, 2013, which covers activities relating to promoting health care, including preventive health care.But there is an important qualification that CSR teams should not overlook.
Under Rule 2(1)(d)(iv) of the Companies (CSR Policy) Rules, 2014, activities benefiting employees of the company are excluded from the definition of CSR. MCA’s CSR FAQ clarifies that an activity designed exclusively for employees does not qualify as CSR. However, an activity designed to benefit the public at large may qualify even where employees and their families are incidental beneficiaries.
This matters when a company describes an employee wellness initiative as a CSR programme, and it remains one of the more common questions in CSR compliance in India.
What difference is your CSR initiative making?
Most programmes begin their measurement journey by asking:
“What did we do?”
We believe the better question is:
“What changed because of what we did?”
These are useful programme metrics.
The further we move along this chain, the more meaningful—and more demanding—the evidence needs to become.
- Attendance data tells us whether people participated.
- An awareness survey tells us whether they know support exists.
- Utilisation data tells us whether people are accessing services.
- Follow-up assessment can help us understand whether the intervention contributed to meaningful change.
Counting becomes measuring. Measuring becomes understanding. And understanding becomes decision-making.
Five Questions a Good CSR Program should answer:
Sometimes the most valuable finding is not that a programme worked.It is discovering who did not benefit, where barriers remained, and what needs to change. Impact assessment creates value when it makes these differences visible—and helps decision-makers act on them.
A strong assessment should therefore be capable of producing uncomfortable findings as well as positive ones.
- If awareness increased but utilisation did not, that is important.
- If utilisation increased but outcomes did not, that is important.
- If a programme worked for one group but not another, that is important.
At BlueSkyCSR, this is the lens we bring to the impact assessment of CSR projects.We look beyond activities and outputs to examine evidence of change—connecting programme design, implementation, stakeholder experiences, outcomes and impact. Talk to BlueSkyCSR about designing an assessment around the decisions your evidence needs to inform.
Sources
1. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. Update on Tele-MANAS, 23 March 2026. The Government reported 53 Tele-MANAS cells across 36 States/UTs and more than 34.34 lakh calls handled since inception.
2. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. Steps taken to Strengthen and Integrate Mental Healthcare Services, 27 March 2026.
3. Times of India. GCC opens mental health wellness centre for 20,000-plus staff, aims to address stigma surrounding mental health, September 2026.
4. Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India. FAQ on Corporate Social Responsibility, including Rule 2(1)(d) exclusions relating to activities benefiting employees.
5. Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India. Companies Act, 2013 — Section 135 and Schedule VII, including health-care activities under Schedule VII, Item (i).
