BRSR in plain words, and the bills behind your energy and emissions figures.

Who has to file, what BRSR Core checks, what changed for the value chain in 2025, and where each environment figure comes from.

Where does your company sit?

SEBI goes by market capitalisation rank.

• Top 150: BRSR: Required in your annual report since FY 2022-23. BRSR Core check: Reasonable assurance from FY 2023-24. Assessment or assurance since March 2025. Value chain disclosure: Voluntary from FY 2025-26. Getting it assessed or assured is voluntary from FY 2026-27.
• 151 to 250: BRSR: Required in your annual report since FY 2022-23. BRSR Core check: Reasonable assurance from FY 2024-25. Assessment or assurance since March 2025. Value chain disclosure: Voluntary from FY 2025-26. Getting it assessed or assured is voluntary from FY 2026-27.
• 251 to 500: BRSR: Required in your annual report since FY 2022-23. BRSR Core check: Assessment or assurance from FY 2025-26. Value chain disclosure: Not asked of your company.
• 501 to 1,000: BRSR: Required in your annual report since FY 2022-23. BRSR Core check: Assessment or assurance from FY 2026-27. Value chain disclosure: Not asked of your company.
• Other listed: BRSR: Voluntary. You may publish one. BRSR Core check: Not required. Value chain disclosure: Not asked of your company.
• Unlisted supplier: BRSR: No duty to file, whatever your size. BRSR Core check: Not required. Value chain disclosure: You can still be asked. A top 250 customer that reports its value chain counts you as a partner if you alone are 2% or more of its purchases or sales.

BRSR Core: nine attributes an independent provider checks

Since March 2025 the check can be an assessment or an assurance, by a provider with no conflict of interest.

1. GHG footprint

Asks for: Total Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions; Scope 1 plus 2 per rupee of turnover, and the same adjusted for PPP. Proved by: Fuel invoices for Scope 1, electricity bills for Scope 2, audited revenue for intensity. Senseible builds the Scope 1 and Scope 2 totals from your electricity bills and fuel invoices.

2. Water footprint

Asks for: Total water consumption and its intensity; Water discharged, by destination and level of treatment. Proved by: Supply bills, borewell meter readings, tanker invoices in kL, discharge meter logs and CETP invoices.

3. Energy footprint

Asks for: Total energy consumed; Share from renewable sources; Energy intensity. Proved by: Electricity bills, fuel invoices and open access settlement statements. Senseible builds total energy from your electricity bills and fuel invoices.

4. Circularity and waste

Asks for: Waste generated by category, and its intensity; Waste recovered through recycling or re-use, and waste disposed of, by method. Proved by: Weighbridge slips, hazardous waste manifests, recycler and co-processor receipts.

5. Employee wellbeing and safety

Asks for: Spending on wellbeing as a share of revenue; Lost time injury frequency, permanent disabilities and fatalities, contract staff included. Proved by: Incident registers and payroll.

6. Gender diversity

Asks for: Wages paid to women as a share of total wages; Complaints under the POSH Act, and how many were upheld. Proved by: Payroll and POSH complaint records, kept by HR.

7. Inclusive development

Asks for: Input material bought from MSMEs, small producers and within India; Wages paid in smaller towns. Proved by: Purchase ledgers and payroll.

8. Fairness with customers and suppliers

Asks for: Customer data breaches as a share of cybersecurity events; Days of accounts payable. Proved by: Records of data breaches and cybersecurity events, and audited accounts for payables.

9. Openness of business

Asks for: Purchases and sales concentrated with trading houses, dealers and related parties; Loans, advances and investments with related parties. Proved by: Audited accounts.

Value chain rules, then and now

• Check on BRSR Core: July 2023, Reasonable assurance. March 2025, now: Assessment or assurance, your choice
• Who counts as a partner: July 2023, Top partners making up 75% of purchases or sales together. March 2025, now: Any partner at 2% or more of purchases or sales on its own. Coverage may stop at 75%.
• Value chain disclosure, top 250: July 2023, Comply or explain, from FY 2024-25. March 2025, now: Voluntary, from FY 2025-26
• Check on value chain figures: July 2023, Limited assurance, comply or explain, from FY 2025-26. March 2025, now: Assessment or assurance, voluntary, from FY 2026-27
• Green credits: July 2023, Not asked. March 2025, now: A voluntary Principle 6 line, from FY 2024-25

If you supply a listed company

• No law makes a supplier send figures. A contract or supplier code can.
• Requests usually arrive in the months after March, because BRSR is filed with the annual report.
• Expect to be asked for Scope 1 and 2, energy, water and waste for April to March, with the bills behind them.

BRSR supplier questionnaire template. See how enterprises collect figures from many suppliers.

From last year's bills to four BRSR figures

• 12 electricity bills: 4,80,000 kWh, feeding Scope 2 and total energy.
• Diesel invoices: 12,000 litres, feeding Scope 1 and total energy.
• LPG invoices: 3,000 kg, feeding Scope 1 and total energy.

Units from your own diesel generator are not electricity. Count the diesel once, under Scope 1, and leave its units out of Scope 2.

Senseible reads the units, litres and kilograms off each bill, keeps the factor and its source on every line, and drafts the BRSR energy and emissions fields from them. See a sample report with its BRSR Core map.

Find the answer for your exact line

Who files, and when

• Do unlisted companies have to file BRSR?
• When did BRSR replace the BRR?
• BRSR, GRI or ISSB: which do we need?
• Essential or leadership indicator: which must we report?
• What changed between the 2023 and 2025 rules?

Emissions and energy

• Energy and emissions from a year of bills, worked through
• Energy intensity per rupee of turnover
• Emission intensity adjusted for PPP
• Scope 2: location-based or market-based?
• Renewable or non-renewable: which row does each source go in?
• Diesel for a DG set: energy and Scope 1
• Scope 1 from LPG and PNG bills
• Which greenhouse gases to include
• Does BRSR require Scope 3?
• Adding several plants into one figure

Water, waste and air

• Water withdrawal, consumption and intensity
• Withdrawal or consumption: what is the difference?
• Filling the waste table by category
• Using vendor certificates for waste figures
• NOx, SOx and particulate matter from stack reports
• The zero liquid discharge question

Value chain and suppliers

• A listed customer wants our figures. Do we have to send them?
• The supplier questionnaire, field by field
• A supplier has not replied. What do we report?
• First year of value chain reporting: is last year needed?
• Distributors and dealers as value chain partners
• Share of value chain partners assessed
• Is value chain assurance mandatory yet?

Assurance and review

• BRSR Core: assessment or assurance?
• Can our statutory auditor assure BRSR Core?
• The documents behind each environment figure
• Common errors in the environment section
• Disclosing estimates and your own methods
• Explaining a big change in emissions
• Who should own each BRSR Core figure

Short answers

Who has to file BRSR?

The top 1,000 listed companies by market capitalisation, in their annual report, under Regulation 34(2)(f) of SEBI's LODR Regulations. It has been mandatory for them since FY 2022-23. Other listed companies may file one voluntarily. Unlisted companies have no duty to file.

What is BRSR Core?

A short list of key BRSR indicators, grouped under nine attributes, that must be checked by an independent provider. Since SEBI's circular of 28 March 2025 the check can be an assessment or an assurance. It applies to the top 150 listed companies from FY 2023-24, the top 250 from FY 2024-25, the top 500 from FY 2025-26 and the top 1,000 from FY 2026-27.

Does BRSR require Scope 3?

No. Scope 1 and Scope 2 are essential indicators under Principle 6. Scope 3 is a leadership indicator, which is voluntary, and it is not part of BRSR Core.

Is value chain disclosure mandatory?

No. Since March 2025 it is voluntary for the top 250 listed companies from FY 2025-26, and getting it assessed or assured is voluntary from FY 2026-27. A partner counts if it alone makes up 2% or more of purchases or sales by value.

Can Senseible file or assure our BRSR?

No. Senseible builds your Scope 1, Scope 2 and energy figures from your bills and invoices, with each number traced to its document, and drafts the BRSR energy and emissions fields from them. The draft is self-declared. Filing stays with your company, and the BRSR Core check comes from an independent provider.