About Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting Initiative:
- It is a mandatory disclosure mechanism for top 1000 listed companies or businesses to report their performance on environmental, social and governance (ESG) aspects and demonstrate their commitment to responsible business practices.
- It was introduced in May 2021 by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).
- This initiative was intended to provide policymakers and investors with robust data to make informed decisions.
- The disclosure requirements are grouped into nine core categories, based on the principles of the National Guidelines for Responsible Business Conduct introduced by SEBI:
- Environmental protection: Key performance indicators cover electricity consumption, water usage and air emissions.
- Human rights: Focus on human rights violations and minimum and fair wages.
- Integrity: Performance indicators include anti-corruption, anti-bribery and conflicts of interest policies.
- Employee well-being: Metrics focused on parental benefits, employee accessibility and the percentage of unionized workers.
- Inclusive growth: Policies favouring vulnerable and marginalized groups.
- Sustainable goods and services: Information on investments in social and environmental impacts.
- Responsible consumer engagement: KPIs encompass handling consumer complaints and feedback, product recall procedures and cybersecurity and data privacy policies.
- Stakeholder responsiveness: Describing engagement with vulnerable and marginalized groups.
- Responsible public policy engagement: Listing trade and industry affiliations and detailing issues relating to anticompetitive conduct.
