ESGRisk.ai, India’s first ESG rating agency and an Acuité Group company, has felicitated companies that have achieved excellence in the sustainability space. The much awaited ‘ESG India Leadership Awards’ ceremony, was held virtually today after months of meticulous screening processes to select the winners from India’s top 500 listed companies across 55 industries. The ESG winners presented in 21 categories were announced after rigorous research that included collecting and analysing disclosures, stock exchange releases, annual reports, news and controversies. Mr. Sankar Chakraborti, Chairman, ESGRisk.ai and Group CEO, Acuité, said, “These ESG champions deserve a standing ovation. Not too long ago, ESG was an idea that was expected to take shape sometime in the not-so-near future. And now, ESG is not only here with us, it has reached a tipping point, courtesy the enterprise and vigour shown by these companies to make sustainability a way of businesses. The ESG India Leadership Awards gave us a chance to highlight their uplifting stories and inspire corporates to integrate sustainability consciously and unconditionally into the core of their businesses.”
An award committee was constituted to independently evaluate the effectiveness of the methodology and whether the data and results are consistent. The awardees did not have to nominate themselves or pay a fee to be considered for the awards. What made the event an overwhelming success was the number of registrations, which stood at 2000. Not to forget the general public interest and the curiosity the awards ceremony created. Of the 2000 registrations, 200-plus were directors from different industries and across wide-ranging sectors. In addition, 50 sustainability and risk officers, 300-plus banking professionals including RBI, World Bank and over 25 international agencies participated to make, what should be, a landmark event in India’s ESG history. Thanks to the ESG-driven organisations that made it a momentous occasion. Infosys Limited, not only won the Overall ESG Leadership award, it was also crowned winner in Leadership in Equal Opportunities category. The ceremony acknowledged Infosys Limited’s excellent practices in diversity and inclusion based on age, gender, race, sexual orientation, disability, qualification, nationality and ethnicity of employees.
Hindustan Zinc Limited was declared Environment leader for initiatives in reducing carbon footprint, managing waste effectively, minimising air pollution and managing environmental impact. In GHG Emissions Reduction too, Hindustan Zinc Limited was an outright winner for excellent practices in reducing carbon footprint. The effort of another stalwart of the environment couldn’t have gone unacknowledged. Page Industries Limited won the leadership award in Green Supply Chain. Among others, Axis Bank scored the most on Social Impact. It stood out in community services, product quality and safety, employee development and data privacy. Not just that, Axis Bank emerged winner in transparency in disclosures and reporting standards. Keeping up with the group’s rich tradition, Godrej Consumer Products Limited was crowned champion for strong Governance practices. And if board diversity is strongly being recommended as a tool to enhance corporate governance, Blue Star Limited can be proud of its policies in including board members with different ethnic, educational, and cultural backgrounds. It deservingly won the award in Board Diversity. Kudos to Mindtree too for winning the leadership award in Board Independence.
Many such outstanding achievements were honoured like that of Vedanta Limited that won the Waste Management award and ACC Limited, a worthy winner in the Water Efficiency category. Proactive measures to tackle pollution is the key to achieve progress in sustainable living. In this regard, NTPC Limited demonstrated excellent practices in monitoring air pollutant emissions to win the award in the Air Pollution Management category. And at a time when homes are increasingly going green, Brigade Enterprises Limited was acclaimed for its energy-efficient real estate portfolio and was declared victor in Green Product and Service. Developing management practices and strategy for energy-efficiency and biodiversity mirror a company’s ESG approach. In this field, UltraTech Cement Limited won the leadership in Energy Efficiency award while Reliance Industries Limited clinched the best leadership title in Biodiversity Impact Reduction. Awards were also bestowed on Gujarat Pipavav Port Limited in Community Support and Development, Vakrangee Limited in Data Privacy and Security and Bajaj Electricals Limited in Product Quality. Bajaj Electricals Limited has laid the template for efficient quality management systems, communicating product defects, product recall, measuring customer satisfaction and retention rate.
Unsurprisingly, Tata Consultancy Services Limited, keeping up with the tag of being a people’s organisation, topped the scores in Leadership in Employment Quality. The company stood out for initiatives in fair compensation, flexible work schedules and promoting a positive work culture. Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited too deserve applause for winning the Employee Development award for providing training, reskilling and upskilling opportunities and performance appraisals. Mr. U K Sinha, Former Chairman, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI); Mr. S S Mundra, Former Deputy Governor, The Reserve Bank of India; Mr. Dinesh Khara, Chairman, State Bank of India; Mr. Sanjeev Kaushik, Additional Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India; Ms. Aruna Newton, Assoc. Vice President, Head – Diversity and Inclusion, Sustainability Governance & Reporting, Infosys Ltd. and Mr. Felix Suntheim, Financial Sector Expert, International Monetary Fund addressed the participants and covered various aspects of ESG Landscape.
About ESGRisk.ai:
ESG Risk Assessments & Insights (ESGRisk.ai) is India’s first ESG rating company and an Acuité Group Company. ESGRisk.ai provides objective, independent and unbiased opinion and assessments on the companies’ ability to mitigate emerging risks associated with Environment, Social, and Governance issues that have a material financial impact. Our ESG assessments foster informed decision-making while choosing ESG investments, assessing a particular company or industry’s performance, reviewing ESG business strategies and identifying the need for policy interventions.
About Acuité Group:
Acuité Group comprises Acuité Ratings & Research Limited, a SEBI registered, RBI-accredited bond rating agency, and its two wholly-owned subsidiaries, SMERA Ratings Private Limited, a pioneer in rating SMEs, and ESG Risk Assessments & Insights Limited, India’s first ESG rating company. The shareholders of Acuité Ratings & Research are SIDBI, D&B (India), State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Indian Bank, Bank of India, Union Bank of India, and Standard Chartered India.