Lakhsyaa Insights - Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR)

**The issues of climate change and environmental degradation have taken a place of priority among many agencies and authorities all around the world. (In 2022, the estimated economic loss of natural disasters worldwide was 313 billion U.S. dollars. Source – Statista)

**Conference of Parties (CoP27) held at Egypt in 2022, emphasized the reaffirmations by countries on their commitments to effectively combat climate change with the focus on sustainability way forward.

**The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), defined ESG disclosures in a standardized manner for listed companies based on which, the Business Responsibility and Sustainability (BRSR) guidelines were issued.

**Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) in India owes its origins to the ‘Voluntary Guidelines on Corporate Social Responsibility’. These guidelines were formulated in 2009 by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in India.

**Important timelines - SEBI introduced the Business Responsibility Report (BRR) for top 100 listed companies in 2012 as part of its Annual Report and extended it to the top 500 listed companies in 2015. In 2021, the BRR has been replaced by the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR) as a mandatory obligation for the top 1000 listed companies.

**SEBI vide Circular no. CIR/CFD/CMD/10/2015 dated November 04, 2015, prescribed the format for the Business Responsibility Report (BRR)in respect of reporting on ESG.

**In terms of amendment to regulation 34 (2) (f) of LODR Regulations vide Gazette notification no. SEBI/LAD-NRO/GN/2021/22dated May 05, 2021, it has now been decided to introduce new reporting requirements on ESG parameters called the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR)

**The BRSR seeks disclosures from listed entities on their performance against the nine principles of the ‘National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct’(NGBRCs) and reporting under each principle is divided into essential and leadership indicators (shown below).

**The listed entities already preparing and disclosing sustainability reports based on internationally accepted reporting frameworks (such as GRI, SASB, TCFD or Integrated Reporting) may cross-reference the disclosures made under such framework to the disclosures sought under the BRSR.