Securities and Exchange Board of India
Press Releases No. 15/2022
SEBI constitutes advisory committee on Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) matters
1. SEBI has constituted a committee for advising on ESG-related matters in the securities market. The members of the committee are:
| S. No. | Name | Designation | ||||
| 1. | Chair of Committee – Mr. Navneet Munot | CEO, HDFC Mutual Fund | ||||
| Preparers of sustainability reports | ||||||
| 2. | Dr. Anirban Ghosh | Chief Sustainability Officer, Mahindra Group | ||||
| 3. | Mr. C Sivakumar | Executive Director, NTPC | ||||
| 4. | Mr. Amit Talgeri | Chief Risk Officer, Axis Bank | ||||
| 5. | Dr. Mukund Rajan | FICCI Representative | ||||
| 6. | Mr. R Mukundan | MD & CEO, TATA Chemicals Ltd. | ||||
| 7. | Mr. Santosh Jayaram | Sustainability Head, HCL Technologies | ||||
| 8. | Mr. Sharad Kalghatgi | ESG Head, Cipla Ltd. | ||||
| Users of sustainability reports (Mutual Funds, Asset Managers, Insurance Companies) | ||||||
| 9. | Ms. Priyanka Dhingra | ESG Analyst, SBI Mutual Fund | ||||
| 10. | Mr. Harsha Upadhyaya | CIO (Equity), Kotak Mutual Fund | ||||
| 11. | Mr. Amar Gill | Managing Director, Head of APAC BlackRock Investment Stewardship | ||||
| 12. | Mr. Jitendra Arora | EVP and Fund Manager, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance | ||||
| ESG Rating Providers, Proxy Advisors, Credit Rating Agencies | ||||||
| 13. | Mr. Ramnath Iyer | Co-Founder, ESG risk AI (Subsidiary of Acuite Ratings) | ||||
| 14. | Mr. Amit Tandon | Founder & MD, Institutional Investor Advisory Services | ||||
| 15. | Mr. J. N. Gupta | Founder and MD, Stakeholders Empowerment Services (SES) | ||||
| 16. | Ms. Rama Patel | Director, CRISIL Ratings Limited | ||||
| Others – Technical Expert, Assurance Providers | ||||||
| 17. | Prof. Krishnamurthy Vaidyanathan | Assistant Professor, Indian School of Business (ISB) | ||||
| 18. | Mr. Pratiq Shah | Partner, Deloitte | ||||
| 19. | Mr. Arupendra Mallick | Vice-President, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) | ||||
| Secretariat to the Committee & Co-ordinator | ||||||
| 1. Shri. Jeevan Sonparote, Chief General Manager, Corporation Finance Department, SEBI
2. Ms. Surabhi Gupta, General Manager, Corporation Finance Department, SEBI 3. Ms. Richa G. Agarwal, General Manager, Market Intermediaries Regulation and Supervision Department, SEBI 4. Shri. Bithin Mahanta, General Manager, Investment Management Department, SEBI |
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*Special invitees with specific areas of expertise (including officials from other regulatory bodies such as the RBI, IRDAI) may be invited based on the requirements of the Committee.
II. The terms of reference of the Committee include the following:
a. Enhancements in Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR)
i. Review of leadership indicators that may be made essential – including those related to value chain
ii. Developing sector specific sustainability disclosures
iii. Evolving disclosures / metrics that are relevant to the Indian context.
iv. Identify areas for assurance and roadmap for its implementation
b. ESG Ratings
i. Developing separate/ parallel approach for ESG rating adapted to emerging market e.g. focus on ‘S’ including employment generation, etc.
ii. Developing uniform indicators of ‘G’ as input to ESG ratings and / or credit ratings
iii. Disclosures in the rationale by ESG rating providers on what and how qualitative factors were factored in the ESG ratings / observations
c. ESG Investing
i. Continuous enhancement of disclosures specific to ESG Schemes of Mutual Funds with particular focus on mitigation of risks of mis-selling and greenwashing. The evolution of standards and norms for ESG is a dynamic process which necessitates continuous evaluation.
ii. Examine whether ESG funds need to have prudential norms, if any.
iii. Long term plan to prescribe ESG disclosures for all Mutual Fund schemes.
Mumbai
May 6, 2022
