Corporate Sustainability Goal Setting of Indian Companies: An analysis of NIFTY 250 Companies

Abstract

To embrace CSR in its entirety, businesses must understand it as a multilayered concept with four interrelated and often overlapping dimensions, namely, economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic. Publishing of sustainability information and data into the mainstream report brings it to the attention of investors and shareholders and allows a wider, more sustainable conception of value to foster. As ESG and sustainability gain paramount importance globally, Indian enterprises are increasingly recognizing the importance of corporate sustainability goal setting, complying and revising those goals and their contribution to global SDGs, as a potential to drive positive impact, enhance transparency and foster value creation. The aim of this study is to investigate the degree to which businesses include environmental and social goals in their sustainability reports. This paper examines the status of sustainability targets set by Indian companies. Specifically, the trends of environment-related and social goals are analyzed by comparing the period of setting each goal over the five years from 2019 to 2023. The report also analyzes the status of Indian companies' commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their responses to each of the 17 goals from 2020 to 2023. The analysis shows that companies do set their sustainability targets for specific years, such as 2030, but the frequency of target revision is not as frequent as in ordinary medium-term management plans. While the setting of long-term targets was influenced by industry in terms of environment-related targets, there were few industry-specific characteristics in terms of social-related targets. The construction industry companies showed a high rate of disclosure and a long period for setting both environment and social-related targets. Since the United Nations approved the SDGs in 2015, Indian companies have been trying to more proactively reflect the SDGs in their business management, and the number of companies disclosing their commitment to the SDGs has been increasing. However, the priority has been placed on activities related to manufacturing and consumer responsibility, which are close to their core business, and on activities related to global warming. Through these studies, this paper attempts to contribute to the existing research on the status of setting sustainability goals by presenting evidence, especially in relation to corporate plans.