BRSR Lite vs Core vs Comprehensive: Which Format Must Your Company File?

If you are preparing a Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR) for the first time, the most common point of confusion is the format. People hear "BRSR", "BRSR Core" and "BRSR Lite" used almost interchangeably — but they are not the same thing, and filing the wrong one wastes weeks of effort.

This guide breaks down the three formats, who files which, and why they are best thought of as one dataset with three views.

The short version

• Comprehensive is the full disclosure — every Section A, B and C indicator across all nine NGRBC principles.
• Core is a focused subset of key ESG attributes that must carry reasonable assurance from an independent provider.
• Lite is a simplified disclosure for voluntary adopters and smaller entities that aren't yet under the full mandate.

Think of Comprehensive as the superset. Core and Lite are filtered views of the same underlying data — which is exactly why re-keying your numbers into three different templates is unnecessary (more on that below).

Comprehensive — the full picture

The Comprehensive format is the complete BRSR. It is organised into three sections:

• Section A — General disclosures: entity details, products and services, operations, employees, holding/subsidiary structure, CSR, and transparency.
• Section B — Management and process: the policies, governance and oversight that sit behind your sustainability claims.
• Section C — Principle-wise performance: the detailed metrics, mapped to the nine principles of the National Guidelines on Responsible Business Conduct (NGRBC) — covering ethics, product responsibility, employee wellbeing, stakeholder engagement, human rights, environment, public policy, inclusive growth and customer value.

If you are a large listed entity, this is the disclosure your annual report carries.

Core — the assured subset

BRSR Core is a defined set of key ESG KPIs — the metrics SEBI considers most material — that must be backed by reasonable assurance. It is being phased in by market-capitalisation band, widening over time to cover more of the top-1,000 listed entities. Core also brings value-chain disclosure into scope, so the data-collection surface extends to your significant suppliers and distributors.

Because Core demands assurance, the discipline around it is different: every number needs an audit trail showing who entered it, who reviewed it, and what evidence supports it.

Lite — the on-ramp

BRSR Lite is a simplified format aimed at voluntary adopters and entities not yet under the full mandate. It captures the essentials without the full Section C depth — a sensible starting point for a company that wants to build the habit and the data foundation before it graduates to Core or Comprehensive.

One dataset, three views

The most important practical insight: the three formats share the same underlying indicators. Comprehensive is the superset; Core and Lite are subsets. So a company that starts on Lite and later moves to Core should never have to re-enter its data — the same validated figures simply project into the format the regulator expects.

This is the core idea behind purpose-built BRSR software: capture once, validate once, and generate whichever format applies — as a board-ready PDF and an exchange-ready XBRL filing that always agree.

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Want to see this in practice? Aaida ESG supports Lite, Core and Comprehensive from a single 150+ indicator data model — so graduating from one format to the next means zero re-keying. Explore Aaida ESG →