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?

Correct Option: (a) 1 only

Statement 1 is correct because under the Companies Act, 2013, CSR rules explicitly exclude activities undertaken in pursuance of normal course of business of the company and expenditures that benefit the company directly or its employees. Statement 2 is incorrect because the rules mandate eligible companies to spend at least 2% of their average net profits of the preceding three financial years on CSR activities. Therefore, only statement 1 is correct.