With reference to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) rules in India, consider the following statements : 1. CSR rules specify that expenditures that benefit the company directly or its employees will not be considered as CSR activities. 2. CSR rules do not specify minimum spending on CSR activities. Which of the statements given above is/are correct ?

Statement 1 is correct because the Companies (CSR Policy) Rules exclude activities that benefit only the company's employees or those undertaken in the normal course of business to ensure the focus remains on external social welfare. Statement 2 is incorrect because Section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013, explicitly mandates that eligible companies must spend at least 2% of their average net profits from the preceding three financial years on CSR. This question tests the core concept of statutory mandates and specific exclusions defined under India's CSR legal framework.