The Securities and exchange Board of India on 10th May 2021 has introduced a new reporting requirements on ESG parameters called the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR).
The BRSR seeks disclosures from listed entities on their performance against the nine principles of the ‘National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct’ (NGBRCs) and reporting under each principle is divided into essential and leadership indicators. The essential indicators are required to be reported on a mandatory basis while the reporting of leadership indicators is on a voluntary basis. Listed entities should endeavour to report the leadership indictors also.
The BRSR shall be applicable to the top 1000 listed entities (by market capitalization) and in order to give time to companies to adapt to the new requirements, the reporting of BRSR shall be voluntary for FY 2021 –22 and mandatory from FY 2022 –23. However, companies are encouraged to be early adopters of the BRSR, thus being at the forefront of sustainability reporting.
.