BRSR and BRSR Core: a step-by-step guide for listed companies and their suppliers

What the BRSR is and who files it

The BRSR is the format the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) sets for environmental, social and governance (ESG) disclosure by listed companies. SEBI introduced it by circular on 10 May 2021, replacing the older Business Responsibility Report (BRR). It has been mandatory for the top 1,000 listed companies by market capitalisation since FY 2022-23.

It did not arrive from nowhere. It is the latest step in a decade of guidance from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and SEBI, and each step widened who reports and how much.

Unlisted companies do not file a BRSR. Many of them still end up answering its questions, because their listed customers need the data. We come back to that below.

How the report is structured

The report has three sections. Each one draws on different people and documents inside the company.

• Section A, general disclosures: the entity, its products and operations, its workforce and its corporate social responsibility work.
• Section B, management and process: the policies behind each principle, who governs them and how the board oversees them.
• Section C, principle-wise performance: essential indicators, which every filer answers, and leadership indicators, which are voluntary.

Section C follows the nine principles of the NGRBC, published by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in 2019. Paraphrased, they ask a business to do the following.

What BRSR Core adds

In July 2023 SEBI introduced BRSR Core, a subset of BRSR indicators that must be independently assured or assessed. It phases in by market capitalisation: the top 150 listed companies from FY 2023-24, rising to the top 1,000 from FY 2026-27. SEBI's circular of 28 March 2025 revised the framework, including allowing assessment as well as assurance.

The Core indicators are grouped under attributes that cover:

• greenhouse gas footprint
• water footprint
• energy footprint
• circularity and waste
• employee well-being and safety
• gender diversity
• inclusive development
• fairness in dealing with customers and suppliers
• openness of business

Several Core figures are intensities. For emissions, energy and water you report intensity per rupee of turnover, and a version adjusted for purchasing power parity (PPP). So you need clean turnover figures alongside the physical ones.

What it means for suppliers

BRSR asks listed companies to look beyond their own gates. BRSR Core sets out value chain disclosures for the largest listed companies, covering their main upstream and downstream partners. SEBI's 28 March 2025 circular made these disclosures voluntary for FY 2025-26.

Voluntary does not mean nobody asks. Listed companies preparing for these disclosures are already sending suppliers questions on energy, emissions, water, waste, safety and the workforce. If you supply one, expect a questionnaire before any rule requires it.

Your answer feeds straight into their report. A measured figure from you replaces an estimate in theirs, and a figure with a bill behind it is one they can defend to their assurer. That makes you an easier supplier to keep.

Preparing your BRSR in seven steps

1. 1Confirm the scope and the yearDecide which entity and subsidiaries the report covers and which financial year it describes. Check if your market capitalisation puts you in the BRSR Core phase for that year.
2. 2Name an owner for each principleFinance, HR, environment and safety, and the company secretary each hold part of the answer. Give every principle a named owner and a date.
3. 3Map where each figure livesFor every Section C indicator, write down the document it comes from: electricity bills, fuel invoices, water meter readings, waste records, payroll, safety logs, the complaints register.
4. 4Check the policies behind Section BEach policy should have an owner, a recent board approval and a review date. Where the format asks for a web link, the policy must be public. Check that it reaches the value chain where relevant and names a grievance route.
5. 5Collect data and evidence as you goGather figures monthly or quarterly and attach the source document when you enter them, not at year end.
6. 6Calculate derived figures onceWork out totals, ratios and intensities from the underlying entries, so a figure that appears under two principles has one value. Record every emission factor and its version, such as the Central Electricity Authority's grid factor for Indian electricity.
7. 7Review, sign off and fix the versionRun an internal review, get board sign-off, then lock the figures so the version you file is the version your assessor or assurer checks. The filing goes to the stock exchanges in XBRL, a structured data format, so validate the file in the exchange's own utility before you submit it.

Gaps to check before your assurer does

These are the gaps that turn an easy review into a long one. Each is cheap to fix early.

• A policy with no named owner, or one approved years ago and never revisited.
• A policy the format says should be public that is not on your website.
• No grievance or complaints route named, or one that is named but not tracked.
• The same figure reported with two different values in two principles.
• An emissions figure with no record of the factor or its source.
• A Core indicator with data entered but no document attached.

How ESGen helps with BRSR

The ESGen platform has a BRSR and BRSR Core lens. It holds SEBI's format as structure, marks the Core indicators, and keeps the evidence document against each answer. Readiness and evidence-coverage scores show which indicators still lack data or proof. A calculation log records how each figure was worked out, and a sign-off lock fixes the reporting period once it is chosen.

One limit to know. The platform's built-in emission factors are the UK government's, published by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). It does not yet calculate Indian electricity emissions with the Central Electricity Authority's grid factor, so ask us how your emissions figures will be handled.

Our team works alongside the platform. We can review the policies behind Section B, and help unlisted suppliers answer the questionnaires their listed customers send. Every plan includes onboarding, where we set up the workspace with you.

ESGen helps prepare structured reporting evidence. We are not an assessor or assurance provider, and no software makes a company compliant on its own. SEBI sets the requirements, so confirm your own obligations with your advisers. See BRSR in the platform, or book a demo and we will walk through it with your own reporting year.