pvtltd.co

Audit & Assurance

BRSR Assurance

Independent assurance of the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report — BRSR under SEBI LODR Regulation 34(2)(f) and BRSR-Core limited assurance on ESG metrics for listed companies and their value-chain partners.

Starting from Discuss with usTypical timelineBRSR Assurance

Independent limited assurance on BRSR and BRSR-Core disclosures — Regulation 34(2)(f) SEBI (LODR) Regulations 2015 and the SEBI BRSR circulars — verifying GHG, energy, water, and workforce metrics for listed companies and value-chain partners.

What is included
  • BRSR vs BRSR-Core applicability check for your company
  • Assurance scope and materiality definition with your ESG team
  • Verification of GHG, energy, water, and workforce metrics
  • Data-traceability review — from source systems to the BRSR tables
  • Limited assurance report in the SEBI-prescribed format
  • Gap report with the fixes for the next reporting cycle
Documents required
  • Draft BRSR with the nine BRSR-Core metrics (where applicable)
  • ESG data sources — energy bills, GHG inventory, water, workforce data
  • List of sites and manufacturing/operating locations
  • Prior-year BRSR and any existing assurance or certification
Government fees

See the fee table below for the statutory filing charge and common delay logic.

Legal basis
  • Regulation 34(2)(f) of the SEBI (LODR) Regulations 2015
  • SEBI circular dated 12 July 2023 (BRSR-Core)
  • SEBI circular dated 10 May 2021 (BRSR framework)
  • ICAI SAE 3000 (Revised) — assurance engagements other than audits

Process

How the service works

The workflow is built to be predictable: document collection, legal review, filing, and post-filing follow-through.

Step 1Scope

Confirm the scope

We check whether your company is a listed filer (Regulation 34(2)(f)) or a value-chain partner captured by a listed customer's BRSR-Core assurance, and fix the metrics in scope.

Step 2Data

Review the data trail

We map each BRSR metric back to its source — energy bills, GHG inventory, water meters, HR records — and flag data gaps before fieldwork.

Step 3Fieldwork

Run the verification procedures

We test the ESG data through enquiry, inspection, and analytical procedures under SAE 3000 (Revised) to a limited-assurance standard.

Step 4Report

Draft the assurance report

We issue the limited assurance report in the SEBI-prescribed format, with the metrics verified and the exceptions noted.

Step 5Gap memo

Deliver the gap memo

We hand over a gap report on data quality and controls so the next BRSR cycle starts from a cleaner base.

AEO summary

BRSR assurance is an independent engagement verifying a company's Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report — required for listed companies under Regulation 34(2)(f) SEBI (LODR) Regulations 2015, with BRSR-Core assurance on nine key metrics (GHG, energy, water, workforce, etc.) for the top 150/250 listed entities on a phased basis. An unlisted company enters the scope as a value-chain partner of a BRSR-Core listed company.

What the assurance actually verifies

BRSR-Core pins assurance to nine quantified KPIs — GHG footprint (Scope 1 and 2), water footprint, energy footprint, employee wellness, gender diversity in the workforce and at the board, and related metrics — under the SEBI circular dated 12 July 2023. Each metric must trace back to a source: energy bills and meter readings for energy, the GHG inventory for emissions, water meters and utility bills for water, HR records for workforce counts. The assurance engagement under SAE 3000 (Revised) verifies that trace, at limited-assurance depth.

The report is issued in the SEBI-prescribed format and attaches to the annual report filing. What most companies underestimate is not the verification but the data assembly: a BRSR-Core metric is only as good as the source record behind it, and the source records (bills, meters, registers) are almost never assembled until the assurance starts.

  • BRSR — every listed company, Reg 34(2)(f) SEBI (LODR) 2015, attached to annual report
  • BRSR-Core — nine KPIs (GHG, energy, water, workforce), SEBI circular 12 July 2023
  • Assurance — limited, under SAE 3000 (Revised), negative-form conclusion
  • Provider — registered CA firm or SEBI-empanelled ESG assurer (list maintained by SEBI)
  • Value-chain — unlisted partners ≥2% of listed customer's revenue feed the same data

Why data readiness is the whole game

BRSR assurance is the first time most companies' ESG numbers face independent verification, and the verification surfaces what the marketing version of a sustainability report never does: missing meter readings, uncounted sites, headcounts that don't reconcile with the HR system. The assurance report notes exceptions, and for a listed company those exceptions go to the exchanges with the annual report.

The practical route is to build the data trail before the engagement: one spreadsheet per metric, every number traceable to a bill, meter, or register, and the GHG inventory computed on a consistent boundary. Companies that come to us with that trail get a clean limited-assurance report in weeks; companies that don't spend the same weeks finding out their data was never there.

  • Exceptions go public — the assurance report attaches to the annual report filing
  • GHG boundary consistency — the single most common data issue
  • Value-chain B2B angle — bad ESG data costs you the listed customer
  • Clean trail → clean report; raw bills → exception findings

Government fees

Fee breakdown

ItemFeeNotes
Professional assurance feeDiscuss with usQuoted on number of sites, metrics, and data maturity.
SEBI filing (listed companies)Per the stock exchange/SEBI fee schedule — confirm current charges with the exchangeBRSR is filed with the stock exchanges along with the annual report; the assurance report attaches to it.

Timeline

Typical turnaround

Typical timeline usually means a 3–6 weeks depending on data readiness turnaround, assuming documents are complete and any board or shareholder approvals are already in place.

Pricing note

Assurance fees are quoted on the number of sites, metrics, and data maturity — not a portal fee.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Which companies need BRSR assurance?
Every listed company must file a BRSR under Regulation 34(2)(f) of the SEBI (LODR) Regulations 2015, attached to the annual report filed with the exchanges. BRSR-Core — the quantified nine-metric subset — requires limited assurance for the top 150 listed entities by market capitalisation from FY 2023-24, extended to the top 250 from FY 2024-25 (SEBI circular dated 12 July 2023, SEBI/HO/CFD/CFD-SEC-2/P/CIR/2023/122). Unlisted companies enter the scope indirectly: a listed company's value-chain partners that contribute 2% or more of its revenue must provide BRSR-Core data, and that data is what the assurance covers.
What is the difference between BRSR and BRSR-Core?
BRSR is the full qualitative-plus-quantitative sustainability report filed by every listed company. BRSR-Core is a subset of nine quantified key-performance indicators — GHG footprint, water footprint, energy footprint, employee wellness, gender diversity, etc. — prescribed by the SEBI circular dated 12 July 2023 (SEBI/HO/CFD/CFD-SEC-2/P/CIR/2023/122), for which limited assurance is mandatory in the top-150/250 phase. The BRSR-Core data must be disclosed with the annual report and the assurance report attached, in the annexure format prescribed by that circular.
What level of assurance does BRSR-Core require?
SEBI requires limited assurance (not reasonable assurance) on BRSR-Core metrics — performed under SAE 3000 (Revised), Assurance Engagements Other Than Audits or Reviews of Historical Financial Information. Limited assurance means the procedures are enquiry-and-analysis based rather than the deeper testing of a financial audit; the report concludes in a negative-form assurance. The assurance provider must be a registered chartered accountant firm or a SEBI-empanelled ESG assurance provider — the current empanelment list is maintained by SEBI.
What happens if the BRSR or its assurance is late or wrong?
For a listed company, BRSR is a continuing disclosure obligation under the LODR Regulations — a late or incomplete filing draws exchange queries and can attract SEBI enforcement action including penalty, and the BRSR-Core assurance report is a mandatory attachment from the applicable phase. For an unlisted value-chain partner, the failure shows up as your listed customer's data gap — which is how a B2B supplier loses a customer. The practical cost of bad ESG data is reputational and commercial, not just regulatory.
Do unlisted private companies need BRSR assurance?
Not on their own — BRSR is a listed-company obligation. But an unlisted Private Limited company that supplies a listed company will be asked to report BRSR-Core data (GHG, energy, water, workforce metrics) as a value-chain partner contributing ≥2% of the listed company's revenue, and that data is verified as part of the listed company's assurance engagement. If your customers are listed, the BRSR-Core data request is coming — preparing the data trail now avoids the scramble at the annual-report deadline.
How long does BRSR assurance take?
For a single-site company with clean data, 3–4 weeks from the draft BRSR. Multi-site operations with manual ESG data take 6–8 weeks because each metric has to be traced back to its source. The single biggest timeline lever is data readiness — companies that assemble the GHG inventory and energy/water records before engaging the assurer finish on schedule; those that hand over raw bills start the clock when they could have closed it.

Canonical reference: https://www.pvtltd.co/services/brsr-assurance

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