Regulating Greenwashing In Indian Corporate Disclosures: A Critical Analysis Of The BRSR Core Framework, EBI's ESG Rating Provider Regulations, And The Road Ahead
- IJLLR Journal
- 1 hour ago
- 1 min read
Anushka Patil, B.A LL.B., Sonopant Dandekar Shikshan Mandali’s Law College, Palghar
ABSTRACT
India's ESG disclosure regime has evolved rapidly from the National Voluntary Guidelines (2011) and the Business Responsibility Report (2012) to the BRSR (2021), the BRSR Core (2023) and the SEBI (ESG Rating Providers) Regulations, 2024. Indian law, however, still contains no statutory definition of greenwashing, no dedicated remedy for misled investors and only residual liability under the SEBI Act, 1992, the Companies Act, 2013 and the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
Examining the BRSR Core's assurance architecture and SEBI's ESG rating regime, this paper argues that the framework rests on three structural weaknesses: self-reported metrics paired with conflicted assurance, fragmented enforcement across multiple regulators, and doctrinal uncertainty surrounding forward-looking sustainability statements and double materiality.
Drawing on the EU CSRD, the U.S. SEC's 2024 Climate Disclosure Rule and the UK FCA's Anti-Greenwashing Rule, the paper proposes a statutory definition of greenwashing, a fortified assurance regime, a safe harbour for good-faith forward-looking statements, a limited private right of action under Section 12A of the SEBI Act read with the PFUTP Regulations, 2003, and a formal coordinating mechanism among SEBI, the MCA, the CCPA and the NGT.
Keywords: Greenwashing; BRSR Core; ESG Rating Providers; SEBI; Corporate Disclosure; Sustainable Finance; Securities Regulation.
