An ESG rating provider operating in India must be registered with the Securities and Exchange Board of India under the SEBI (Credit Rating Agencies) Regulations 1999, together with the SEBI Master Circular for ESG Rating Providers reissued on 11 July 2025. Registration is mandatory, and both subscriber-pays and issuer-pays models are recognised.
India regulates ESG rating providers directly, which most jurisdictions do not. That has a practical consequence for any listed entity being rated: the provider is accountable to a regulator, and the data underpinning certain ratings is itself regulated.
Where the obligation comes from
| Instrument | What it does |
|---|---|
| SEBI (Credit Rating Agencies) Regulations 1999 | The registration regime under which ESG rating providers are registered |
| SEBI Master Circular for ESG Rating Providers, reissued 11 July 2025 | The consolidated operating requirements for registered providers |
Providers on SEBI’s public register include CRISIL ESG Ratings and Analytics, CARE ESG Ratings, ICRA ESG Ratings, ESG Risk Assessments and Insights, and SES ESG Research, among others. CRISIL ESG Ratings and Analytics was the first provider registered, approved as a Category 1 ESG rating provider on 25 April 2024. The register changes, so the regulation and the master circular are the durable references rather than any count of providers.
Why the data underneath is regulated too
Core ESG Ratings rest on assured BRSR Core data. BRSR Core is the subset of assurable key performance indicators carved out of the wider Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report, covering nine ESG attributes including greenhouse gas, water and energy footprints. Reasonable assurance over that data phases in by market capitalisation rank: the top 150 listed entities from FY 2023-24, the top 250 from FY 2024-25, the top 500 from FY 2025-26 and the top 1,000 from FY 2026-27.
The link matters because it means rating quality in India is bounded by disclosure quality in a way that is externally verifiable, rather than resting only on a provider’s own research.
Pillar weighting is not standardised
Weighting differs by provider and is not always environment-heaviest. One published Indian methodology dated May 2026 weights governance highest at 40 per cent, with environment at 35 per cent and social at 25 per cent. Assumptions carried from one provider do not transfer to another.
Sources: SEBI Master Circular for ESG Rating Providers, SEBI BRSR Core framework circular, 12 July 2023
Preparing the underlying data file and readiness for independent assurance is advisory work; the assurance and the rating are performed by independent third parties. ESG solutions covers that preparation, and the ESG guide sets out the disclosure structure the ratings draw on.