Enhancing SEBI BRSR Interoperability with International Standards

Robust ESG disclosures are critical to building investor trust, unlocking foreign capital, and mobilizing climate finance. As global investors increasingly integrate ESG considerations into their portfolios, the quality of corporate sustainability reporting has become a decisive factor in shaping access to international markets and financing.

SEBI introduced the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) framework in 2021, marking a significant step forward from the earlier BRR format by mandating the top 1000 listed companies to disclose their ESG performance in a standardized manner from FY 2022-23. Aligned with the nine principles of the National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct (NGBRCs) issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, India, the framework was further strengthened with the launch of BRSR Core in July 2023. It requires the top 150 companies to report against the nine NGBRC principles and identified KPIs with third-party compliance verification from FY 2023-24. The mandate will progressively expand to cover the top 1000 listed companies by FY 2026-27.

While these measures mark significant progress in advancing corporate responsibility and sustainability in India, there remains scope to enhance the framework’s effectiveness by

aligning it more closely with leading global standards - particularly IFRS and GRI. The challenge and opportunity lie in strengthening interoperability in a way that reflects India’s unique context and industry concerns, while ensuring that disclosures remain both feasible for entities to report and decision-useful for investors. Against this backdrop, the Observer Research Foundation, India, is convening a high-level roundtable with regulators, industry leaders, investors, and sustainability experts. The discussion will focus on practical reforms to establish BRSR as a ‘gold standard’ for ESG disclosures in India - maximizing corporate transparency, investment attractiveness, and international credibility. Insights from this dialogue, together with ORF’s analysis, will be distilled into actionable recommendations for SEBI.

The guiding questions for the roundtable include:

• How effectively does the current BRSR framework meet its objectives, and where does it diverge from global standards such as IFRS and GRI?
• How can stakeholder and industry concerns be addressed effectively while ensuring that the core objectives of the BRSR framework are not diluted?
• What enhancements are needed in BRSR disclosures - both in the scope of information required and in the clarity of regulatory guidance - when benchmarked against international best practices?
• How strong and effective are the existing accountability mechanisms and compliance incentives in ensuring high-quality, consistent reporting?

Programme