Survey finds India unprepared for ESG regulation

A new survey from Deloitte has found that less than half India's companies felt adequately equipped to meet their ESG strategy and compliance requirements, with real estate firms performing even worse.

Only 25% of companies in the real estate and construction sectors said they were "well aware" of the existing ESG reporting mechanisms and regulations in India.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has mandated Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR) disclosure for the top 1,000 listed organisations by market capitalisation from the 2022-23 financial year.

Further down the corporate food chain, awareness of ESG is even more limited. Only 15% of the companies surveyed said their suppliers were well equipped to deal with their ESG requirements and 18% reported suppliers to be totally unprepared.

Meanwhile, three-quarters of respondents said India's ESG regulations were too complex and that guidance on compliance was lacking.