GUIDANCE 
DOCUMENT 
ON ESG 
DISCLOSURES

1. PREFACE.......................................................................................................................................................................3
2. BSE AND SUSTAINABILITY...................................................................................................................................4
3. IMPORTANCE OF ESG REPORTING .................................................................................................................5
4. ESG KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS.........................................................................................................6
5. USING THIS ESG GUIDANCE DOCUMENT....................................................................................................7
6. HOW TO REPORT ESG INFORMATION?.........................................................................................................8
7. APPENDIX I : SUSTAINABILITY REPORTING FRAMEWORKS................................................................9
8. APPENDIX II : CATEGORY AND KEY
 
PERFORMANCE INDICATORS ...........................................................................................................................10
9. FURTHER ASSISTANCE.........................................................................................................................................12
FLOW OF
CONTENTS

PREFACE
In these congregating and competitive times, sustainability factors have become alarmingly important.
The nuances of formulating effective business strategies for sustainable businesses need flavours of effective 
stakeholder engagement.
The expanding ambit of sustainability is paving the way for creation of wealth without compromising on superlative 
innovations and ever evolving customer needs, improved stakeholder awareness and integration of environment, social 
and governance factors with ultimate vision of the company.
Sustainability reports are being used for benchmarking and assessing sustainability performance with regards to 
existing frameworks,demonstrating how the organisation influences and is influenced by expectations about 
sustainable development, and also facilitating peer comparison over time and enabling communication with 
stakeholders.
BSE is introducing this ESG Guidance to assist listed corporates wishing to incorporate ESG reporting into their existing 
reporting processes.
There is no regulatory requirement for ESG reporting, and adherence to this ESG Guidance is entirely voluntary. Also, 
ESG reporting does not set aside, replace or substitute any reporting obligations of listed companies under existing 
laws and regulations.
3

BSE AND 
SUSTAINABILITY
Indian Economy is growing manifolds with increased development and spending across various sectors. With these 
massive transitions and transformations the emphasis is more on creating businesses, not just about profit, but about 
people and the planet.
We are committed to promote sustainable practices in our markets with the belief that businesses will only be 
successful in the long run if their models respect the triple bottom line of “profit, planet and people”.
Adoption of regulatory framework across all verticals of the organisation enable long term thinking, broader 
understanding of risks and opportunities and improve connectivity between financial and non-financial drivers.
Catering to voluntary adoption of certain norms is our contribution to the seriousness about respecting interests of 
various stakeholders.
This ESG Guidance document is a product of joint cooperation of various stakeholders. It intends to capture the best of 
progressive ESG thinking and will be updated on an ongoing basis.
4

IMPORTANCE OF
ESG REPORTING
Raises Corporate Transparency
It broadens organisational disclosure beyond traditional financial metrics and raises corporate transparency on environmental 
and social metrics.
Sustainability reporting allows a balanced and understandable assessment of the company’s performance by stakeholders to 
facilitate corporate accountability, as promulgated by one of the principles under the Code of Corporate Governance.
Strengthens Risk Management
Sustainability reporting allows listed companies to consider emerging risk areas and to identify opportunities presented by 
risks that are overlooked by other analytical and system driven approaches.
A risk management approach that incorporates sustainability provides management with useful data for identifying emerging 
issues and developing appropriate responses that help protect corporate reputation and improve shareholder value.
Promotes Stakeholder Engagement
Identification of and engagement with stakeholders are fundamental to sustainability reporting and are cited as critical steps by 
various international sustainability frameworks. Listed companies need to identify their stakeholders to effectively engage 
those that are interested in and affected by the company’s sustainability performance. Given the varied nature and interests of 
stakeholders such as shareholders, employees, customers, suppliers and communities, stakeholder engagement enables the 
company to take into account the Information needs of various stakeholders with regards to the disclosure of sustainability 
related information.
Improves Communications with Stakeholders
By broadening disclosure beyond financial disclosure to include non-financial disclosure of environmental and social 
interaction and impact, the company provides a framework for measuring non-financial performance. It also gives guidance on 
the opportunities and threats faced in managing non-financial risks.
Sustainability reports can be used for benchmarking and assessing sustainability performance with regard to existing 
frameworks, demonstrating how the organisation influences and is influenced by expectations about sustainable 
development, and facilitating peer comparison over time and enabling communication with stakeholders.
5

ESG KEY
PERFORMANCE
INDICATORS
Environmental Policy 
Full time Employees 
Gender diversity on  Board
Environmental Impacts 
Monetary and non - monetary 
Board - Independence
 
 benefits for employees
Energy Consumption 
Attrition Rate 
Board - Separation of Powers
Energy Intensity 
Training and development  Hours 
Voting Results
Carbon/GHG Emissions 
Health care benefits 
Gender Pay Ratio
Primary Energy Source 
Human Rights Policy 
Incentivized Pay
Renewable Energy Intensity 
Human Rights Violations 
Business Ethics and Code of Conduct
Water management 
Child & Forced Labour 
Supplier Code of Conduct
Waste Management 
Gender parity ratio at Workforce 
Bribery/Anti-Corruption Code
 
Community and social Work 
Corporate Governance
 
Local Procurement
Environmental
Social
Governance
Over the past few years sustainability reporting standards have been developed by different non-profit organizations 
around the world. A list of these organizations and their respective frameworks are attached for reference in Appendix I. 
Several of our listed corporates are deploying these standards for their own sustainability reporting purposes.
BSE has always been on a forefront to back various initiatives by regulators that promote sustainability. GRI and BSE 
entered a formal MoU in mid-2016 to work collaboratively and support listed corporates of BSE to establish sustainability 
reporting process and prepare sustainability reports. This collaboration therefore led to the creation of a linkage 
document that is designed to show companies how requirements under the SEBI BRR Framework correspond to the GRI 
Standards and disclosures.
There are some ESG Key Performance Indicators we believe should be the focal point of ESG reporting.
For each of these ESG Key Performance Indicators we are suggesting a specific measurement as set out in Appendix II.
It should be noted that, depending on the nature of the business, some of the ESG Key Performance Indicators are more 
critical than others.
Corporates should therefore consider expanding on the disclosures on those ESG Key Performance Indicators that are 
considered material to the nature of the business, beyond what is suggested in Appendix II.
6

USING THIS 
ESG GUIDANCE
DOCUMENT
The ESG Guidance is intended for all listed corporates in BSE for which the application and implementation of the same is 
voluntary in nature.
It should be noted that the ESG Guidance is a non-binding document which do not set aside, substitute or replace any 
regulatory provisions in respect of periodical disclosure obligations.
The underlying intent is to develop and exhibit an organisation’s health in truest of sense by seamless alignment of various 
regulatory frameworks with the long term objectives and sustainability goals of a company, which are key requisites for 
decision making processes of various stakeholders.
7

HOW TO
REPORT ESG
INFORMATION?
There are different ways to disseminate ESG information to Stakeholders. Corporates might want to integrate the ESG 
Information and the financial statements into a single annual report, or decide to publish separate, stand-alone Sustainability 
Reports. BSE has a separate tab to disseminate the sustainability / ESG reports submitted by Listed Corporates.
We at BSE are steering our initiatives towards making the information easily accessible, comparable in a timely manner. 
It is desired that the Sustainability/ ESG disclosures are separated from the financial disclosures. The crisp representation of 
information would help the stakeholders correlate financial and non-financial disclosures at the same time.
This will allow investors as well as other stakeholders to consider non-financial information in the context of the long term 
sustainability strategy of the company.
Secondly, in order for communications to be effective, the ESG information should be easily accessible, preferably online, using 
hyperlinks that connect all the pieces of information that are available.
The general trend is to have such reporting annually and is considered fairly sufficient. Although incase there is any gap 
between the reporting span of non-financial disclosures and financial disclosures, then any changes in the same and any 
material information in the interim period should be reported.
8

APPENDIX I
SUSTAINABILITY
REPORTING 
FRAMEWORKS
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is an international, non-profit organization working in the public interest towards a 
sustainable global economy where organizations manage their economic, environmental, social, and governance performance 
and impacts responsibly. Corporate and public sector reporters in over 90 countries use the GRI Guidelines. More than 24,000 
reports have been registered in GRI’s Sustainability Disclosure Database.
https://www.globalreporting.org/Pages/default.aspx
The International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC) is a group of international leaders with a mission to create the 
“Integrated Reporting Framework”. The Framework provides material information about an organization’s strategy, governance, 
performance and prospects in a concise and comparable format, a fundamental shift in corporate reporting.
http://integratedreporting.org/
The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) is a UN non-profit U.S.-based organization on a mission to create and 
disseminate accounting standards that reporting issuers can use to disclose material sustainability factors in filings with the 
Securities and Exchange Commission.
http://www.sasb.org/
CDP (formerly the Carbon Disclosure Project) is a global non-profit organization, founded in 2000 with headquarters in 
London. CDP requests standardized climate change, water and forest information from some of the world’s largest listed 
companies through annual questionnaires sent on behalf of institutional investors that endorse them as ‘CDP signatories’.
https://www.cdp.net/en
The United Nations Global Compact (UNGC) is a strategic policy initiative for businesses that are committed to aligning their 
operations and strategies with ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, labour, environment and 
anti-corruption. It comprises more than 13,000 organizations in 80 local networks worldwide. Business participants are 
expected to publicly report on their progress in an annual Communication on Progress.
https://www.unglobalcompact.org/
9

APPENDIX II
Environmental Policy 
Does the company publish and follow an environmental policy? Yes/No
Environmental Impacts 
Any legal or regulatory responsibility for an environmental impact?
 
Yes/No If yes, explain
Energy Consumption 
Total amount of energy usage
Energy Intensity 
Amount of energy used 
Carbon/GHG Emissions 
Total amount of Carbon and Green House Gas emissions in metric tons
Primary Energy Source 
Specify the primary source of energy used by the company
Renewable Energy Intensity 
Specify the percentage of energy used that is generated from renewable sources
Water management 
Total amount of water consumption, and details in respect of recycling if any
Waste Management 
Total amount of waste generated, recycled or reclaimed, by type and weight
ESG Key Performance
Indicators
Measurement annual,
unless indicated otherwise
CATEGORY: ENVIRONMENT
Full time employees 
Number of full time employees
Monetary and non- monetary   
Total amount of employee wages and benefits
benefits for employees
Attrition Rate 
Percentage of employee turnover
Training and development  hours 
Total number of hours of training for employees divided by the number of employees
Health care benefits 
Does the company publish and follow a policy for occupational and global health
 
issues? Yes/No
Human Rights Policy 
Disclosure and adherence to a Human Rights Policy
Human Rights Violations 
Number of grievances about human rights issues filed, addressed and resolved
ESG Key Performance
Indicators
Measurement annual,
unless indicated otherwise
CATEGORY: SOCIAL
10

Child & Forced Labour 
Does the company prohibit the use of child or forced labour throughout the
 
Supply chain? Yes/No
Gender parity ratio at workforce 
Percentage of women in the workforce
Community and social work 
Number of hours spent, and/or other community investments made
 
as a percentage of pretax profit
Local Procurement 
Percentage of total procurement from local suppliers
Gender diversity on  Board 
Percentage of Board seats taken by women
Board - Independence 
Percentage of Board seats taken by independent directors
Board - Separation of Powers 
Specify whether the CEO is allowed to sit on the Board, act as the Chairman,
 
or lead committees
Voting Results 
Disclosure of the voting results of the latest AGM
Gender Pay Ratio 
Ratio of median male salary to median female salary
Incentivized Pay 
Specify the links between (executive) remuneration and performance targets
Business Ethics and Code of Conduct 
Does the company publish and follow an Ethics Code of Conduct? Yes/No
Supplier Code of Conduct 
Does the company publish and follow a Supplier Code of Conduct? Yes/No
Bribery/Anti-Corruption Code 
Does the company publish and follow a Bribery/Anti-Corruption Code? Yes/No
Corporate Governance 
Percentage of Board seats taken by women
ESG Key Performance
Indicators
Measurement annual,
unless indicated otherwise
CATEGORY: GOVERNANCE
Sustainable Reporting Frameworks 
Does the company publish a GRI, CDP, SASB, IIRC or UNGC report? Yes/No
External Assurance 
Are the company’s ESG disclosures assured by an independent third party? Yes/No
BRR as per SEBI framework 
Yes/No. Voluntary / Mandatory
ESG Key Performance
Indicators
Measurement annual,
unless indicated otherwise
CATEGORY: ESG REPORTING GENERALLY
11

We would highly appreciate voluntary feedback and welcome suggestions on ESG reporting for this ESG Guidance.
We are committed to the cause of sustainable development and being sustainably sensitive in best interest of the society in 
the present and for the future generation.
For further information please contact our listing team at listing.sales@bseindia.com 
FURTHER
ASSISTANCE
12