Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting in India

Abstract

In India, information about sustainability is anticipated to be disclosed through BRSR. This would motivate individuals to think about aspects other than profit and risk when they make investments. The environmental criteria of BRSR will consider a company's performance as a steward of nature. Social criteria will consider how the company manages relationships with employees, suppliers, customers, and communities. The governance aspects will deal with a company’s leadership salaries, audits, internal issues, and shareholder rights. It also bothers the impact of the company towards activities and business relationships on the economy, environment, and people. For that, a business enterprise must fulfil its non-financial reporting. This includes informing its stakeholders, investors, and employees about how its operations effect ESG issues. This paper aims to investigate how India is converting ESG to BRR and BRR to BRSR. As we know that GRI is a broad concept of BRSR, and we want to know the guidelines of SEBI BRSR. In this paper, I take the top 15 BSE SENSEX companies FY2023-2024 (on a quarterly basis) in India and check how they are following BRSR disclosure of Section C with its nine principles. The study will analyse the alignment of corporate disclosures with SEBI's BRSR framework and assess their effectiveness in fostering sustainability reporting. It will also evaluate the challenges companies face in implementing the prescribed ESG practices under BRSR. Furthermore, this research will highlight sector-wise variations in compliance and transparency levels. The findings will provide insights into corporate accountability and sustainable business practices in the Indian market. This paper aims to contribute to the growing discourse on ESG integration and its impact on responsible investing in India.