Q. Consider the following statements:- The Reserve Bank of India mandates all the listed companies in India to submit a Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR).
- In India, a company submitting a BRSR makes disclosures in the report that are largely non-financial in nature.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct? (UPSC Prelims 2025)
Answer:
II only
Notes: The correct answer is
[B] II only. The Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR) is a framework designed to help stakeholders assess a company's performance on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) parameters.
- Statement I (Incorrect): The mandate for BRSR comes from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), not the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). SEBI introduced BRSR in 2021, making it mandatory for the top 1,000 listed companies (by market capitalization) to file these reports starting from the financial year 2022-23. The RBI regulates banks and non-banking financial companies but does not issue sustainability reporting mandates for all listed corporate entities.
- Statement II (Correct): The BRSR is fundamentally a non-financial disclosure framework. While financial reports focus on balance sheets and profits, the BRSR requires companies to disclose data on "Triple Bottom Line" performance—People, Planet, and Profit. This includes information on carbon emissions, waste management, employee welfare, gender diversity, and ethical governance.
The BRSR replaced the earlier Business Responsibility Report (BRR) to align Indian reporting standards with global ESG benchmarks like the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). It is divided into three sections: General Disclosures, Management and Process Disclosures, and Principle-wise Performance Disclosures.