The first time a team sits down with the BRSR reporting format, the task looks deceptively contained: a template with three sections and a long list of questions. What follows is rarely contained. The data lives across finance, HR, EHS and procurement; the definitions do not line up with internal systems, and the leadership indicators ask for information most companies have never tracked centrally. Having worked through these filings alongside GRI, SASB and IFRS S1/S2 disclosures, I have found that the gap between a compliant report and a credible one comes down to how deliberately each section is completed. This guide walks through the SEBI BRSR format section by section, with the operational detail that the official guidance note leaves you to work out on your own.
What Is the BRSR Reporting Format and Where Does It Sit in Your Annual Report?
The BRSR report format is the standardised ESG disclosure template that SEBI notified through its circular dated May 10, 2021, replacing the older Business Responsibility Report. The format itself was published as Annexure I to that circular, which is why practitioners still refer to it as BRSR Annexure 1. It has since been folded into SEBI’s Master Circular for LODR compliance, but the structure the market works with day to day is unchanged.
The filing is mandatory for the top 1,000 listed entities by market capitalisation and forms part of the annual report. The format is built in three parts: Section A for general disclosures, Section B for management and process disclosures, and Section C for principle-wise performance against the nine principles of the National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct. Everything below assumes you are filling this template for the first time or tightening a filing that was rushed the year before.
How Should You Prepare Before Filling the BRSR Format?
Do not open the template first. The single most useful step is fixing your reporting boundary, that is, whether you are reporting on a standalone or consolidated basis, because that decision cascades through every quantitative field. Next, assign a named owner for each data domain: emissions and energy to EHS, workforce numbers to HR, complaints data to the company secretary, procurement metrics to supply chain. Pull the prior year’s figures early, since the format asks for the current and previous financial year side by side and mismatches are the most common reason a filing looks unreliable.
A short gap assessment at this stage pays for itself. Map each disclosure to a source system, flag the fields where no system exists, and decide how you will estimate or explain those gaps before the deadline rather than during it. This preparation is where genuine BRSR compliance is won or lost.
How Do You Fill Section A (General Disclosures)?
Section A captures the identity and footprint of the entity. It is the least ambiguous part of the format, which makes accuracy the only real challenge. You will enter corporate details such as CIN, incorporation year, registered and corporate office addresses, the stock exchanges where you are listed, and paid-up capital. You then describe your business activities and products or services by NIC code and share of turnover.
The section that trips people up is the workforce disclosure. The format asks for employees and workers, broken out separately, by gender, and including differently abled persons. Contractual and permanent categories are reported distinctly, so your HR data has to be reconciled before it goes in.
Section A closes with two disclosures that deserve care. The transparency and compliance table records complaints and grievances received from each stakeholder group, including communities, investors, employees, workers, customers and value chain partners. The overview of material ESG issues asks you to identify the sustainability risks and opportunities that matter to your business, along with their financial implications. Treat that last field as a strategic statement, not a formality, because assurance providers and analysts read it closely.
How Do You Fill Section B (Management and Process Disclosures)?
Section B is about governance, not numbers. It asks, principle by principle, whether you have a policy, whether the board approved it, whether it is publicly available with a web link, whether it extends to your value chain, and what goals and targets you have set against it. Have your policy web-links ready before you start, because a missing or broken link is a visible weakness in an otherwise strong filing.
The section also requires a statement from the director responsible for the business responsibility report, the name of the specific individual accountable for BRSR implementation, and details of how the highest governance authority reviews performance against the nine principles. If policies for any principle do not yet exist, the format allows you to say so and explain why, which is far better than leaving a field blank or overstating maturity.
How Do You Fill Section C (Principle-Wise Performance Disclosure)?
Section C is the analytical core of the SEBI BRSR format and where most of the effort concentrates. Each of the nine principles carries essential indicators, which every reporting entity must complete, and leadership indicators, which are voluntary but signal a more mature programme. Blog 2 in this series covered the essential-versus-leadership distinction in depth, so the focus here is on the character of the data each principle demands.
| Principle | Focus | Headline data to prepare |
| P1 | Ethical conduct | Anti-corruption training, conflict-of-interest cases |
| P2 | Sustainable products | R&D spend on sustainability, sustainable sourcing share |
| P3 | Employee wellbeing | Wellbeing spends, retirement benefits, safety incidents |
| P4 | Stakeholder engagement | Stakeholder groups identified and modes of engagement |
| P5 | Human rights | Minimum wage coverage, human-rights complaints |
| P6 | Environment | Energy, water, waste, and Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions |
| P7 | Policy advocacy | Trade-body memberships, anti-competitive conduct |
| P8 | Inclusive growth | Social impact assessments, CSR, local procurement |
| P9 | Consumer responsibility | Product labelling, data privacy, consumer complaints |
Principle 6 is invariably the heaviest lift, since it requires quantified energy consumption, water withdrawal and discharge, waste generation, and greenhouse gas emissions. Companies that have never measured Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions should begin that work months before the filing window, not during it.
What Changed Under the BRSR Core and the March 2025 Amendments?
Sitting inside the wider format is the BRSR Core, a subset of key ESG metrics that carries a mandatory verification requirement for larger entities. SEBI’s circular dated March 28, 2025 (SEBI/HO/CFD/CFD-PoD-1/P/CIR/2025/42) made three practical changes worth building into your process. It introduced the option to obtain either third-party “assessment” or “assurance” of the BRSR Core, with assessment carried out against standards developed by the Industry Standards Forum. It reset the value-chain threshold so that disclosures cover upstream and downstream partners individually contributing 2% or more of purchases or sales, which entities may cap at 75% of the total. And it added a voluntary leadership indicator on green credits under Principle 6. Read the current BRSR standards and BRSR SEBI guidelines against your own applicability before assuming any of these apply to you.
What Are the Most Common BRSR Filing Mistakes to Avoid?
The recurring errors are boringly consistent: a reporting boundary that shifts between sections, current-year figures that do not reconcile with the prior year, complaint counts that contradict the numbers elsewhere in the annual report, and broken policy links. The subtler mistake is treating leadership indicators as filler. They are where a serious sustainability programme distinguishes itself and leaving them all blank tells a reader more than you might intend.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the BRSR reporting format mandatory for all listed companies?
No. The BRSR format is mandatory for the top 1,000 listed entities by market capitalisation and has been since FY 2022-23. Other listed entities may adopt it voluntarily.
What is BRSR Annexure 1?
It is a common shorthand for the BRSR format itself. SEBI notified the format as Annexure I to its circular dated May 10, 2021, so the two terms are often used interchangeably.
Do companies need assurance on the entire BRSR format?
No. The verification requirement applies to the BRSR Core, a defined subset of ESG metrics, rather than to every field in the format. Since March 2025, eligible entities may choose assessment or assurance for the Core.
Can a company use a reporting format other than SEBI’s BRSR format?
No. Entities within scope must use the format prescribed by SEBI. Cross-references to global frameworks such as GRI are encouraged but do not replace the prescribed template.
Reporting the BRSR Format With Confidence
Filling the BRSR reporting format well is less about the template and more about the data discipline behind it. Get the boundary, the ownership and the prior-year reconciliation right, and the sections largely complete themselves.
If your team wants a second set of eyes on a draft filing, or support building the data foundation for the BRSR Core, our sustainability reporting specialists can help.
