Study flags sector-specific gaps in India’s ESG push

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A collaborative probe by Kerala University and the Indian Institute of Forest Management, Bhopal, which analysed however Indian companies are adapting to the mandatory Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) authorities has recovered that managers crossed starring firms enactment Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) integration. However, they proceed to look challenges owed to the lack of sector-specific reporting frameworks and precocious implementation costs.

The report, published successful the planetary diary ’Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management’, draws connected in-depth interviews with elder executives from banking, manufacturing and work sectors.

The findings of the survey indicated that banking and fiscal institutions pb the firm scenery successful regulatory compliance and reporting quality, though they struggled with measuring biology interaction indicators. Manufacturing firms, which led successful existent implementation of biology initiatives, faced important challenges successful translating these efforts into standardised reports. The work assemblage emerged arsenic the astir challenged by grappling with model adaptation issues.

Concerns

Managers of respective Indian firms acknowledged beardown enthusiasm for ESG integration. However, galore expressed uncertainty astir short-run fiscal returns. The survey besides recorded wide interest implicit precocious upfront investments successful renewable energy, discarded absorption systems, electrification and different sustainability projects, which requires multi-year break-even periods.

Notwithstanding specified challenges, the companies held that ESG conformity is progressively indispensable for attracting planetary investors. While planetary investors are actively seeking ESG-aligned Indian firms, home retail investors stay mostly indifferent, the survey finds.

According to the main researcher Biju A.V., Associate Professor of the Commerce Department astatine Kerala University, the probe squad has projected the request for an ‘Emerging Economy ESG Implementation Framework’ that accounts for sector-specific realities successful enactment with the country’s varied concern landscape.

The contiguous one-size-fits-all BRSR framework, the researchers opine, does not adequately code the unsocial operational contexts of antithetic sectors.

Ambili Jayachandran, Commerce Department, Kerala University, and Aghila Sasidharan, Indian Institute of Forest Management besides collaborated successful the study.

Published - December 12, 2025 08:37 p.m. IST

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