The BRSR format carries around 140 disclosure indicators, of which around 98 are essential and around 42 are leadership. Essential indicators are mandatory for every in-scope listed entity. Leadership indicators are voluntary and signal more advanced practice. The counts are approximate and vary by version of the format.
The Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report is a large format, and the indicator count is one of the first things a listed entity wants to know when scoping the work.
The counts, and why they are approximate
The format carries around 140 disclosure indicators in total. Around 98 of these are essential indicators and around 42 are leadership indicators. These figures should be read as an order of magnitude rather than a fixed statutory number, because the count varies by version of the format. Quoting 140 as a precise immutable total is a common error in secondary guidance.
What the two tiers mean
| Tier | Status | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | Mandatory | The compulsory floor every in-scope entity completes across all nine principles |
| Leadership | Voluntary | An optional ceiling an entity may adopt to demonstrate maturity on a principle |
The split runs principle by principle inside Section C, so each of the nine principles has its own essential questions and its own leadership questions.
Why the count understates the work
An indicator is not a single data point. One essential indicator under Principle 6 can require a full year of metered energy or water data across every site, disaggregated by source and by destination. Scoping a BRSR programme on indicator count alone therefore underestimates it. The realistic measure is how many distinct data streams have to be established, reconciled and made auditable, which is a much smaller number of indicators carrying a much larger share of the effort.
Sources: SEBI BRSR format, Annexure I
The BRSR guide explains the essential and leadership tiers in detail. BRSR reporting services covers scoping and gap analysis for listed entities.