In India the statutory corporate sustainability disclosure is the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report, set by the Securities and Exchange Board of India for the top 1,000 listed entities by market capitalisation. It is built on the nine principles of the National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct.
Corporate sustainability reporting means disclosing environmental, social and governance performance in a defined format. In India that format is prescribed rather than chosen, which distinguishes the Indian position from jurisdictions where reporting frameworks are adopted voluntarily.
The statutory layer
The Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report is required under the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations 2015, at Regulation 34(2)(f). It has been mandatory for the top 1,000 listed entities by market capitalisation since financial year 2022-23. The report is filed in PDF and in XBRL alongside the annual report, and is structured in three sections across the nine principles issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in 2019.
The assurance layer
BRSR Core is a defined subset of key indicators carved out of the wider report, introduced by SEBI in July 2023. Those indicators require reasonable assurance or a third-party assessment, phasing in by market capitalisation rank from the top 150 through to the top 1,000 across four financial years. This is what moved Indian sustainability reporting from narrative disclosure toward tested data.
The voluntary layer
Beyond the statutory format, Indian entities also report under internationally accepted frameworks when investors, lenders or overseas customers expect it. The BRSR format expressly permits cross-referencing such disclosures rather than duplicating them, so one measured dataset can serve several audiences.
What is not required
India has not mandated the ISSB standards IFRS S1 and IFRS S2. Alignment with the ISSB baseline or with the TCFD recommendations functions as a market expectation for an Indian listed entity, not as a domestic legal requirement.
Sources: SEBI BRSR framework circular
The BRSR guide covers the statutory format in depth. BRSR reporting services covers disclosure for listed entities.