Extent of Corporate Sustainability Disclosure in India: A Study with Special reference to the Economical Aspect of GRI Standards

Abstract

The study aims to examine and analyse the present corporate sustainability reporting practices of corporate India based on GRI standards 2016. Our study is confined to the reporting of Economical Aspect as prescribed in the latest GRI Standard.   For the purpose of the study, we thoroughly examined the sustainability reports of 37 Indian companies during 2016-17 to 2019-2020. The selection of the sample companies was based on their "Core & Comprehensive Status" as outlined in the GRI's comprehensive table. Using an unweighted disclosure checklist comprised of13 economic aspect parameters, our study assesses the compliance level of corporate sustainability reporting of economical aspect as guided by GRI standards. The result shows that the minimum disclosure is of 16.67% which is extremely low level of disclosure while the maximum score is 100% indicating full compliance of GRI standard. The average disclosure score (73.02%) indicates a moderately satisfactory level of disclosure in Indian context. The study shows a wide variation in economical aspect disclosure which is evident from the range of 83.33%. Based on these research findings, it can be inferred that there still exists considerable scope for improvement in reporting the economic aspects by companies in India.