Does CSR Apply to an LLP?

No. Corporate Social Responsibility under section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 applies to companies. An LLP is incorporated and governed under the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008, which contains no equivalent provision — so no LLP has a statutory CSR obligation, however large it becomes.

That is the whole answer, but the reason it gets asked so often is worth a paragraph, because the confusion is understandable.

Why LLPs sit outside it

Section 135 is not a general business-size rule. It is a provision of the Companies Act, and it applies to “every company” meeting one of its thresholds — net worth of ₹500 crore or more, turnover of ₹1,000 crore or more, or net profit of ₹5 crore or more in the immediately preceding financial year.

An LLP is not a company for this purpose. It is a distinct legal form with its own Act, its own Rules, its own forms and its own filings. Obligations under the Companies Act do not travel across to it merely because both are registered with the MCA and both file through the same portal.

This is the same logic that keeps LLPs outside a number of other company-only requirements — there is no board of directors, no AOC-4 or MGT-7A, no auditor appointment in Form ADT-1, and no CSR.

Has anyone proposed changing it?

Yes, periodically. Extending CSR to LLPs and to certain other entities has been discussed in policy circles, and the exclusion is sometimes criticised as leaving the burden on companies alone. None of that has become law. As things stand, an LLP has no CSR obligation, and you should be wary of any guidance that suggests otherwise without pointing to an amendment.

Where it does matter for LLP partners

Two situations come up in practice.

• You also run a company. Plenty of our clients have an LLP alongside a private limited company. The company is assessed on its own figures, entirely separately — the LLP’s turnover or profit does not enter the calculation, and the company’s CSR position has no bearing on the LLP.
• You are converting. Converting an LLP into a private limited company brings the resulting company within the Companies Act, CSR included, once it meets a threshold on its own figures. It is rarely the deciding factor in a conversion, but it belongs on the list of things that change.

If you do have a company and want to work out whether section 135 catches it and what the 2% amount would be, our sister site has a CSR applicability calculator that applies the current test.

What an LLP does have to do

Nothing on CSR — but the ordinary annual obligations still apply, and those are the ones worth your attention: Form 11 annual return, Form 8 statement of account and solvency, income tax return, and audit where the thresholds are crossed. Our LLP Compliance Calendar sets out what falls due and when.

Position as at September 2026, based on section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 and the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008. Guidance, not legal advice for your particular entity.