India among the world’s first to standardise ESG disclosures; new SEBI measures to improve transparency: ESGDS’ Ramnath Iyer
ESG practices are considered pivotal for business sustainability and community engagement. Consumers are increasingly favouring socially conscious brands, providing a competitive edge for MSMEs embracing sustainability.
The larger SMEs are spearheading this shift, with 83% in Asia and 92% in India prioritising ESG, says DBS Bank-Bloomberg Media Studios SME Survey. Industry giants IKEA and Coca-Cola are encouraging their MSME suppliers to embrace ESG.
One of the companies helping investors integrate ESG Solutions into their investment decisions is ESGDS, a Mumbai-based company with a presence in Australia and Dubai. In an interaction with ET Online, Ramnath Iyer, the firm’s co-founder and CEO, spoke about the various aspects around the evolving nature of ESG compliances in the country and the likely future of the segment.
Edited excerpts:
ET: What are the primary challenges institutional investors face when measuring ESG performance?
Ramnath Iyer: Primary challenges in ESG performance measurement arise from a lack of standardised metrics, evolving regulations and insufficient granular company information. For example, while the disclosures on Scope 2 emissions (indirect GHG emissions associated with the purchase of electricity, steam, heat or cooling) have increased, often companies don’t disclose emissions for all their facilities or use non-standard metrics in disclosing emissions.
