Build a BRSR project brief before collecting the numbers

Start a BRSR project with a short, approved brief that names the reporting entity, financial year, reporting boundary, required outputs and decision owners. Attach an entity-and-site list. This gives every department the same answer to a basic question: what are we preparing, and which operations belong in it?

This guide is for finance, compliance and sustainability leads commissioning or coordinating reporting work in India. The brief below is Nitium's suggested project-management aid. It is not a prescribed SEBI form or a determination that your business must file a BRSR.

Settle applicability before sending data requests

SEBI's BRSR requirement applies to the top 1,000 listed entities by market capitalisation, subject to the applicable listing rules; other listed entities can report voluntarily. Ask the compliance owner to document the position for the entity and financial year. A customer's request for ESG information does not by itself make its supplier a mandatory BRSR filer. Source: SEBI LODR master circular, 30 January 2026, chapter IV-B, paragraph 1.2.

Keep BRSR preparation, BRSR Core assessment or assurance, and customer-specific requests as separate work packages. The Core assessment-or-assurance glide path covers the top 500 for FY2025–26 and top 1,000 for FY2026–27. It does not make an adviser's preparation work an independent opinion. Source: SEBI circular of 28 March 2025, paragraphs 3.6–3.7.

Bring these inputs to the scoping meeting

• The reporting request, intended reader and target date

• Last year's report and open issues, if available

• The legal-entity structure and current list of factories, offices and other operations

• Acquisitions, disposals, openings, closures or other changes during the year

• The managers who can supply operational, finance, HR, procurement and governance information

• Any independent provider's agreed information requirements

Record missing inputs as questions with owners. An unresolved question is useful information at this stage; a guessed answer can send the entire collection exercise in the wrong direction.

Write the brief in eight decisions

1. Purpose. State the output and who will use it: for example, a draft BRSR for management review. List additional customer schedules separately.

2. Period. Write the actual start and end dates. Identify the comparative period and the date on which the source collection will close.

3. Entity boundary. Record standalone or consolidated reporting and attach the entities covered. SEBI's format asks for this choice, and its guidance requires consistency across the report. Source: Annexure 16, section A, question 13; Annexure 17, general guidance 2.

4. Site coverage. Map each operation to an entity, data owner and coverage dates. Separate confirmed exclusions from unresolved treatment. A list of factories alone may omit offices or warehouses.

5. Deliverables. Specify the disclosure map, data requests, calculation schedules, gap log, review draft and final handover you actually need. Give each a named approver.

6. Dependencies. Work backwards from the reporting deadline. Put data collection, queries, technical decisions, management review and any independent engagement on the same calendar.

7. Decisions and escalation. Name who approves definitions and estimates, who resolves boundary questions and who can release the final disclosure. Agree when an unresolved item goes to that person.

8. Acceptance. Define what a reviewable handover contains: source-linked figures, documented methods, visible gaps, tracked corrections and the exact draft version approved by management.

Keep the main brief short. Use its attachments for the entity/site register, owner list and detailed timetable. Avoid inserting every disclosure field into the brief itself.

A hypothetical brief with two different reporting needs

Fictional example, not a Nitium client case. Aster Components Limited has two factories and one office. It also owns a separate logistics subsidiary. Its compliance lead has confirmed the applicable reporting obligations and a standalone BRSR boundary for this example.

The brief covers Aster's two factories and office for 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026. The subsidiary is identified separately, with its treatment documented. A customer's request for information about the subsidiary is assigned its own response schedule; those figures are not silently inserted into Aster's standalone totals.

During scoping, the team discovers that the second factory opened in December. The plant manager must provide the operating date and available records. Finance must reconcile the site list against its records. The reporting lead must settle the relevant period treatment before the data request is released.

The practical output is three linked decisions: an approved reporting boundary, a separate customer-response scope and an open question about the new factory. No one has yet been asked to produce a misleading full-year figure.

Before the sponsor approves the brief

• Can every site owner identify their entity and coverage dates?

• Is the applicability decision recorded by the responsible compliance owner?

• Are customer requests and voluntary additions clearly identified?

• Are independent assessment or assurance arrangements separately scoped?

• Does every unresolved boundary or methodology question have an owner and decision date?

• Does the timeline leave time to correct the report after review?

• Will management receive the assumptions and gaps alongside the draft?

Turn the brief into a working request

Once these decisions are approved, create the disclosure-level data requests and evidence trail. Our BRSR evidence-file guide and workbook explain how to connect individual figures to their records and approvals.

Nitium Advisory's BRSR reporting support includes disclosure mapping, data-collection templates, gap tracking and draft reporting within an agreed scope. Discuss your reporting brief or email contact@nitium.in with the entity, period, target date and main unresolved questions. Please keep confidential records out of the initial enquiry.

Sources checked 5 October 2026. General preparation guidance; entity-specific applicability, legal interpretation and accounting treatment need appropriate review. Nitium's services described here are advisory and preparation support, not independent assessment, assurance or certification.

For working copies that support this brief, use the reporting boundary and entity register and the reporting project timeline and dependency planner.