Business Responsibility Report

Q. Why is this in news?

A. In efforts to have a single source for all non-financial disclosures by corporates, a government-appointed panel has made various proposals on business responsibility reporting, including putting in place two formats for disclosing information.

Q. What is the Business Responsibility Report (BRR)?

• Business Responsibility Report is a disclosure of the adoption of responsible business practices by a  listed company to all its stakeholders.
• This is important considering the fact that these companies have accessed funds from the public, have an element of public interest involved, and are obligated to make exhaustive disclosures on a regular basis.
• BSR is to be submitted as a part of the Annual Report.
• It contains a standardized format for companies to report the actions undertaken by them towards the adoption of responsible business practices.
• It has been designed to provide basic information about the company, information related to its performance and processes, and information on principles and core elements of the BSR.

Q. What are SEBI recommendations for BSR?

• As per the report, reporting may be done by top 1,000 listed companies in terms of their market capitalization or as prescribed by markets regulator SEBI.
• The reporting requirement may be extended by MCA (Ministry of Corporate Affairs) to unlisted companies above specified thresholds of turnover and/ or paid-up capital.
• The panel has suggested two formats for disclosures — a comprehensive format and a “lite version” — and also called for the implementation of the reporting requirements in a gradual and phased manner.
• Smaller unlisted companies may adopt a lite version of the format, on a voluntary basis.