What is BRSR Core? SEBI's assured ESG KPIs
BRSR Core is the part of an Indian listed company's sustainability report that somebody independent has to check. It is a subset of the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report, made up of key performance indicators grouped under nine ESG attributes, introduced by SEBI circular SEBI/HO/CFD/CFD-SEC-2/P/CIR/2023/122 dated 12 July 2023. Most explainers still describe it as a reasonable-assurance requirement. Since 28 March 2025 that is only half right, and the difference matters when you read a report. This page sets out the current rules. It is not investment advice.
Definition
BRSR Core
is the subset of SEBI's Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report consisting of key performance indicators under nine ESG attributes that a listed entity must have independently assessed or assured, on a glide path by market capitalisation. Source: SEBI circulars dated 12 July 2023 and 28 March 2025.
What is BRSR Core, and why does a subset exist?
The full BRSR is a long self-reported document. BRSR Core answers the obvious follow-up question: which of those numbers has anyone verified. SEBI carved out a defined set of KPIs and required them to be checked by a third party, on the reasoning that the metrics investors lean on should be the metrics that get tested.
The 2023 circular also added KPIs shaped for the Indian market rather than imported wholesale from global frameworks. It names job creation in small towns, openness of business and gross wages paid to women as examples, and it includes intensity ratios based on revenue adjusted for purchasing power parity so figures compare across countries.
The circular is explicit that the data and approach it specifies is a base methodology. Any changes or industry-specific adjustments and estimations must be disclosed, which is where a careful reader looks first.
The nine attributes
| # | Attribute |
|---|---|
| 1 | Greenhouse gas footprint |
| 2 | Water footprint |
| 3 | Energy footprint |
| 4 | Embracing circularity, covering waste management |
| 5 | Enhancing employee wellbeing and safety |
| 6 | Enabling gender diversity in business |
| 7 | Enabling inclusive development |
| 8 | Fairness in engaging with customers and suppliers |
| 9 | Openness of business |
The last two are less familiar than the first seven and are the more revealing pair for anyone reading filings. Openness of business asks for concentration data: purchases from the top 10 trading houses as a share of total purchases from trading houses, sales to the top 10 dealers or distributors, and the share of related party transactions in purchases, sales, loans and advances, and investments. That is governance-adjacent disclosure sitting inside an ESG report.
Who has to have it checked, and when
SEBI phased the requirement in by market capitalisation.
| Financial year | Applies to |
|---|---|
| 2023-24 | Top 150 listed entities |
| 2024-25 | Top 250 listed entities |
| 2025-26 | Top 500 listed entities |
| 2026-27 | Top 1000 listed entities |
Top 500 listed entities
Scope of mandatory BRSR Core assessment or assurance for FY 2025-26, widening to the top 1000 for FY 2026-27
Source: SEBI circular dated 12 July 2023, as modified 28 March 2025
The 2025 change most explainers have missed
SEBI's circular SEBI/HO/CFD/CFD-PoD-1/P/CIR/2025/42 dated 28 March 2025 revised the verification requirement. Following the Board's decision of 18 December 2024, on the recommendation of the Expert Committee for Facilitating Ease of Doing Business, listed entities may now undertake assessment or assurance of BRSR Core rather than reasonable assurance alone.
SEBI defined the new option precisely. Assessment refers to third-party assessment undertaken as per the standards developed by the Industry Standards Forum in consultation with SEBI. The stated aims were to cut cost and effort and to make the process profession agnostic, meaning the work is not reserved to one professional body. The glide path above was unchanged by that circular.
The conflict-of-interest rule survived intact and is worth knowing when you read who signed off. The board of the listed entity must ensure the provider has the necessary expertise, and must ensure there is no conflict of interest: the provider and its associates must not sell products or provide any non-audit, non-assessment or non-assurance service, including consulting, to the listed entity or its group entities.
How to read a BRSR Core disclosure
Three checks do most of the work.
Check which regime applied. A report covering FY 2023-24 for a top-150 company was prepared under reasonable assurance. A report for FY 2025-26 may have been assessed instead. Section A of the BRSR now carries the name of the assessment or assurance provider and the type obtained, so this is stated rather than inferred.
Check the disclosed adjustments. The base methodology is SEBI's, so any deviation the company made should be disclosed alongside the number.
Check what is outside the Core. Everything in the wider BRSR that is not a Core KPI is self-reported and unchecked. The boundary between the two is the point of the exercise, and it is set out in BRSR vs BRSR Core.
BRSR Core is a verification perimeter drawn around nine attributes, on a widening market-cap glide path, and since March 2025 with two routes to satisfying it. It sits alongside the other annual-report disclosures Flock reads, including the corporate governance report and related party transactions. Flock reports public filings with every claim sourced and dated. What any of it means for your money is your call to make.
Frequently asked questions
What is BRSR Core?
BRSR Core is a subset of SEBI's Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report, made up of key performance indicators under nine ESG attributes that a listed entity must have independently assessed or assured. Source: SEBI circular SEBI/HO/CFD/CFD-SEC-2/P/CIR/2023/122 dated 12 July 2023.
Which companies must get BRSR Core assured?
SEBI set a glide path by market capitalisation: the top 150 listed entities from FY 2023-24, the top 250 from FY 2024-25, the top 500 from FY 2025-26 and the top 1000 from FY 2026-27. Source: SEBI circular dated 12 July 2023.
Is BRSR Core still reasonable assurance?
Not only. Since SEBI's circular dated 28 March 2025, a listed entity may undertake assessment or assurance of BRSR Core. Assessment means third-party assessment under standards developed by the Industry Standards Forum in consultation with SEBI. Source: SEBI circular 2025/42.
What are the nine BRSR Core attributes?
Greenhouse gas footprint, water footprint, energy footprint, embracing circularity, enhancing employee wellbeing and safety, enabling gender diversity in business, enabling inclusive development, fairness in engaging with customers and suppliers, and openness of business. Source: SEBI.
Flock tracks these filings, sourced, dated, and linked back to the original. See what smart-money entities disclosed, without the guesswork about what it means.
Disclosures shown are public regulatory filings. Data may be delayed or incomplete. Smart-money entities may no longer hold positions shown. Not investment advice.