The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has moved its Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) Core framework from a voluntary stage to a strictly enforced “Assurance” stage, starting from the fiscal year 2025-2026. The focus for 2026 will be on Value-Chain Disclosures, where the top 1,000 listed companies will be asked to submit ESG information about their own business activities as well as those of their key suppliers and customers. As a result, the legal departments of corporations are forced to update their commercial contracts to include “Green Supply Chain Covenants,” where worker safety ratios and carbon footprint analysis are made binding obligations rather than just disclosures.
