Full speed ahead as India leads on digital sustainability reporting
“Unless the data is comparable, unless the data can be used easily, unless the data can be analysed, it’s no use having all this [sustainability reporting],” says CA (Dr) Debashis Mitra, Past President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI).
His fascinating and energising keynote at Data Amplified 2024 explored India’s leadership on digital sustainability reporting, and its determination to stay in the vanguard. And as he made clear, digital tagging using XBRL is crucial to India’s approach in ensuring the usefulness of the data being collected.
India has been an early adopter of sustainability reporting, explained Dr Mitra. As far back as 2012, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) mandated the Business Responsibility Report (BRR) for listed entities. In a second transformative step forward in 2021, SEBI introduced the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR), requiring the country’s top 1,000 listed companies to make sustainability disclosures in XBRL from the 2022-23 financial year – making India, we believe, the first country globally to collect mandatory digital sustainability data under securities laws.
Not content to stop there, SEBI continues to drive forward the rigour and value of this information, introducing assurance and value-chain disclosure requirements over the next very few years. “India is getting very, very tough,” said Dr Mitra, emphasising the importance being placed on digital reporting, comparability and international alignment. “The whole [political] leadership is totally committed to sustainability… they’re all talking about this – and they’re backing it up.”
As the financial professionals among our readers may be pleased to learn, Dr Mitra observed that sustainability reporting has given chartered accountants a whole new area in which to work. Business is booming, with those specialising in this area doing extremely well, and ICAI training courses consistently full. Another area where ICAI is leading the way is the introduction of social audit, enabling social projects to raise funding and report their impact. It’s clear that there are a range of exciting opportunities available in India right now in data reporting, analysis and assurance.
While no-one knows exactly what the future looks like, India and ICAI are set on a dynamic course. “We are thinking ahead, trying our best in a changing scenario – trying to give the profession a nudge,” – and with 450,000 chartered accountant members plus a million students, that’s a significant push! Dr Mitra’s advice to his fellow professionals is clear: “Go into these newer areas. Understand XBRL. Don’t be stuck in your assurance work – because getting stuck is risk.”
“Sustainability, we believe, is the future. AI, we believe, is the future. XBRL… we believe, is the future.”
