Authors: Gorre Rakesh, Professor Kamatam Srinivas
Abstract: This study provides a comprehensive regulatory analysis of the transition of corporate sustainability disclosures in India from voluntary Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to mandatory Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) reporting. We systematically examine the institutional milestones spearheaded by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)—from the 2011 National Voluntary Guidelines (NVGs), the Business Responsibility Report (BRR, 2012–2016), and Section 135 mandatory CSR provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, to the 2019 National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct (NGRBC) and the comprehensive Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) mandate enacted in 2021. The article unpacks the architectural structure of the BRSR framework across its General Disclosures (Section A), Management and Process Disclosures (Section B), and Principle-wise Performance Disclosures (Section C), distinguishing mandatory Essential Indicators from advanced Leadership Indicators. Furthermore, this paper analyzes SEBI's regulatory oversight framework governing nineteen registered ESG Rating Providers (ERPs), contrasting Category-I and Category-II provider categories across Issuer-pays and Subscriber-pays models, and detailing the structured analytical evaluation and surveillance workflow instituted by CRISIL ESG Ratings. Grounded in Stakeholder Theory and the Resource-Based View, this research provides an institutional foundation for understanding sustainability reporting in emerging capital markets.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23806220
