Sebi ESG rules: Tough, in right direction
Mint Sustainability Summit 2023. They also felt that the rules are in the right direction and necessary to keep up with global standards. But India Inc.
was probably not prepared for them, said Pradeep Panigrahi, head — corporate sustainability, L&T. “A lot of handholding and knowledge sharing are required for the companies," he said. Sebi’s new rules have become mandatory for top listed companies from this year.
Big corporations like ITC that adopted sustainability standards voluntarily in the past decade or so can cope better with the new rules. ITC had set 100 key performance indicators in terms of sustainability nearly 20 years ago, said Madhulika Sharma, vice president and chief sustainability officer at the company. She added that this allowed ITC to meet Sebi’s standards easily.
Pointing out that it would take other companies time to adapt to the new rules, she said: “It’s a good start, there is intent. It is not that the organizations don’t want to be transparent, but I think it is a process." The new standards are also expected to provide uniformity in ESG disclosures. Sanjay Khajuria, director, corporate affairs and sustainability at Nestlé India, looks at the stringent new regulations positively.
“This is going to improve transparency. Most companies are already doing the right things, but the new disclosure standards will [allow] a comparison." Sanjeev Panchal, country president and managing director, AstraZeneca Pharma India, says the pharma major uses science-based targets for ESG reporting. “We must have science-based targets so that it becomes very natural for us to report." Agreed Hetal Gandhi, director- research, CRISIL: “If you have set science-based targets and the data so collected is duly verified,
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