Emerging phenomenon of corporate sustainability reporting: Evidence from top 100 NSE listed companies in India

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to investigate the nature and extent of sustainability reporting practices of top 100 National Stock Exchange (NSE) listed companies in India. Further, this paper also analyses the difference in sustainability reporting practices of companies based on the Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) reporting, ownership structure and industry type. Data were collected from the sustainability report (SR), business responsibility report, CSR report and annual report of the companies for the year ended 2017–2018 and 2018–2019. Content analysis of the reports, Independent sample t test and Cohen's d research techniques were used for data analysis. Notwithstanding the uniform disclosure norm, the results suggest an inconsistency in sustainability reporting practices of the companies. It was found that GRI reporting companies have significantly higher sustainability disclosure than non‐GRI reporting companies in India. Contrary to prior studies, the result indicates the absence of a statistically significant difference in sustainability reporting practices of government‐owned corporations and private companies. The results provide several practical implications for regulators, government, policymakers and companies. Findings suggest companies should move beyond compliance of regulatory norms and adopt sustainability code of conduct (i.e., GRI, UNGC principles, SDGs Mapping) to improve sustainability reporting practices. Policymakers and regulators should broaden the scope of existing disclosure norms (National Voluntary Guidelines) to further improve sustainability reporting in India. The present study is one of the first of its kind to investigate the nature and extent of sustainability reporting practices of NSE listed companies’ post‐disclosure reforms in India.