ESG Reporting (BRSR)

Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) is SEBI's structured ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) disclosure framework, replacing the older Business Responsibility Report (BRR). Mandated by SEBI (LODR) Regulations, Regulation 34(2)(f).

Applicability:

• Mandatory for the top 1,000 listed companies by market capitalisation as on March 31 of the preceding year (extended from top 500 in FY 2022-23).
• Voluntary for other listed companies and unlisted entities.
• Forms part of the Annual Report.

Structure:

The BRSR follows the 9 principles of the National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct (NGRBC):

1. Ethics, transparency, accountability 2. Sustainable goods and services 3. Employee well-being 4. Stakeholder responsiveness 5. Human rights 6. Environment protection 7. Public policy advocacy 8. Inclusive growth 9. Customer value

Each principle has Essential Indicators (quantitative, mandatory) and Leadership Indicators (qualitative/aspirational, voluntary).

BRSR Core — third-party assured subset:

From FY 2023-24, the top 150 listed companies must obtain reasonable assurance on the BRSR Core — a subset of 9 ESG attributes including GHG emissions (Scope 1, 2, 3), water consumption, energy consumption, waste, gender diversity, wages, complaints, openness of business, and CSR spend. Coverage will expand to top 250 (FY 2024-25), top 500 (FY 2025-26), top 1,000 (FY 2026-27).

Value chain disclosures:

From FY 2024-25 (deferred at times via SEBI circulars), top 250 listed entities must disclose BRSR Core for upstream and downstream value chain partners representing at least 75% of purchases / sales by value.

Why unlisted startups should track this:

• LPs in AIFs are increasingly demanding ESG reporting from the underlying portfolio companies — pre-IPO startups will face investor diligence on BRSR-like data.
• Listed PE / VC LPs may need to disclose portfolio-level emissions in their own BRSR.
• Banks and DFIs apply ESG screens to lending.

Kapitalyze maps internal data (HR diversity, energy bills, GHG estimates) onto the BRSR template to make annual disclosures painless.