Indholdsfortegnelse for 22 June 2025 i Business Today

Sustainability has moved beyond buzzwords and boardroom pledges, with India Inc. proving it with action. For three consecutive years, Business Today has spotlighted sustainability efforts in corporate India. But 2025 marks a turning point. This year, for the first time, we have released an entire edition dedicated exclusively to sustainability, accompanied by a flagship event that celebrates those leading the charge. At the heart of this effort is the BT India’s Most Sustainable Companies 2025 initiative, an effort to recognise companies that have demonstrated exemplary commitment to Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) principles. These are businesses that are not merely complying with regulatory mandates but are embedding sustainability into the very core of their strategies. The evaluation process for the awards was rigorous and transparent. CareEdge ESG Ratings, the knowledge…

PUBLIC SECTOR giant Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL) has been focused on sustainability for years. It first started using wind power as far back as 2006. But the real thrust was a while away. P. S. Murty, Executive Director (Health, Safety & Environment) and a company veteran, admits that the focus on sustainability took off on the back of poor ESG (environmental, social and governance) ratings. That was in 2020-21. “It has been an eventful period since then and we have covered a lot of distance,” he says. Today, ESG moves all aspects of the organisation’s strategy. For instance, for the field staff, 2% weight in key performance indicators is given to their green contribution. “The thinking must continuously evolve,” he says. The change over the last few years has been…

JSW ENERGY IS transitioning from a thermal-focused model to a portfolio with a greater focus on renewable energy, aiming to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, two decades ahead of India’s national target. “We are strongly committed to climate change mitigation, and that has been the guiding vision behind maximising our generation capacity from renewable energy installations,” says Prabodha Acharya, Chief Sustainability Officer, of JSW Group. The company has won the Business Today Sustainability Leadership Award in the manufacturing category for power generation. It also won the transition leader of the year award. The firm’s recent expansion in wind, solar, and hydro projects — along with operational efficiencies in existing thermal assets — is beginning to reflect in its emissions profile. “These efforts have contributed to a 9% reduction in emissions,”…

IN 2010, HINDUSTAN Unilever Ltd (HUL), as a part of its parent’s Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP), looked at ways to address India-specific challenges and opportunities. “We laid out ambitious goals to decouple business growth from environmental impact, while increasing positive social outcomes. It significantly advanced our sustainability agenda in India,” says B. P. Biddappa, Executive Director and Chief People Transformation and Sustainability Officer, HUL. The approach is simple—what is good for India is good for HUL. Sustainability, Biddappa elaborates, is not just a strategic priority but deeply embedded “in our purpose and operations.” Before the company really formalised its sustainability and CSR goals, the commitment towards communities and the ecosystem was evident in flagship programmes like Prabhat and Shakti. At HUL’s scale and size (in FY25, it generated a revenue…

GODREJ PROPERTIES LTD (GPL) is redefining the blueprint of responsible real estate. From construction sites to project handovers, GPL’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy is becoming an industry benchmark. The company has won the Business Today Sustainability Leadership Award in the manufacturing category for realty. GPL has conducted extensive risk assessments across all its construction sites, identifying vulnerabilities such as heat stress, flooding, and unreliable water sources. “These assessments have enabled us to design site-specific mitigation strategies,” says Rohit Mohan, Chief Design and Sustainability Officer at Godrej Properties. Having over 60 live projects in India, Mohan says the company is cautious of what it delivers hence, in flood-prone areas, undertakes hydrological and floodplain analyses before breaking ground. Elevated plinths, dedicated stormwater drains with backflow prevention valves, and sump pump systems…

LAST DECEMBER, Shriram Finance announced its decision to have a separate vertical for green financing. Christened Shriram Green Finance, it has set itself a target to achieve an AUM, or assets under management, of ₹5,000 crore in three-four years. With an existing presence in the retail NBFC space, the new venture will initially build its EV portfolio in Karnataka, Kerala, Delhi NCR and Maharashtra. “It is important to be a part of the overall ecosystem,” says Umesh Revankar, Executive Vice Chairman, Shriram Finance. For the company, sustainability revolves around empowering the underbanked and underserved. “For around five decades, our business strategy has focused on uplifting livelihoods,” he says. For the company, it was life as usual till high levels of interest from global investors in socially impactful and transparent financing models…

GLOBAL ISSUES SUCH AS CLIMATE CHANGE, GENDER EQUITY AND ECONOMIC DISPARITY ARE INCREASINGLY SIDELINED IN RECENT years, the world has undergone a marked shift from liberalisation and globalisation towards protectionism. After decades of promoting free trade, reducing tariffs, encouraging cross-border investments and pushing deregulation, many countries are prioritising domestic industries and strategic autonomy. Early signs emerged after the 2008 global financial crisis. The next few years witnessed a material increase in job losses, income inequality and cultural identity issues. These contributed to political outcomes such as Brexit and Donald Trump’s 2016 election victory. The U.S.-China trade war that followed forced companies to diversify away from China. However, the real turning point came with Covid-19. Border closures and supply chain disruptions in early 2020 exposed the world’s overdependence on global production…

IN HIS BOOK, The Third Industrial Revolution, economist Jeremy Rifkin says that every major economic shift is driven by changes in energy use and transportation. The global automotive industry is undergoing such a transformation, from fossil fuels to sustainable alternatives like electric, CNG and biofuel. In India, where the transport sector accounts for 10% of greenhouse gas emissions, the government is targeting net-zero emissions by 2070. The world’s third-largest auto market is expected to add 10 million vehicles by 2030. Automakers are adopting a multi-powertrain approach—integrating EVs, CNG, hybrids and biofuels—to meet their sustainability goals. “These are a scalable pathway to reduce the carbon footprint. Their impact is amplified when supported by green manufacturing, sustainable supply chains and end-of-life recycling policies,” says Saket Mehra, Partner and Auto & EV Industry…

WHILE THE PACE OF REGULATION HAS PICKED UP, THE PROBLEMS ARE BETTER TACKLED THROUGH AN EMPOWERED INSTITUTION WITH THE MANDATE TO ATTRACT AND SUPPORT CLIMATE FINANCE THE MINISTRY OF FINANCE recently released a draft framework for climate taxonomy, which has significant implications for foreign and domestic investors, companies (in power, mobility, construction, iron, steel and cement sectors), MSMEs and stakeholders in the agriculture sector. The climate financing needed to achieve net-zero goals is estimated at $250 billion annually till 2047. Further, this capital is required broadly in two areas, financing the energy transition and climate mitigation/adaptation investments, with more capital required earlier for financing the capex for the energy transition and investments into climate technologies. Commercial and concessional capital, therefore, has a huge role to play in filling this gap.…

THE ACCELERATING EFFECTS of climate change have already rendered sustainable living the only viable option for humans. The corporate sector has an important part to play in this challenging journey. Industry veteran Niranjan Hiranandani, Chairman—NAREDCO & Hiranandani Group, shares his insights about the real estate industry’s need to adopt sustainable practices. Edited excerpts: How are changing climate and increasing pollution impacting the real estate sector? What are the consequences? The real estate and construction industry stands at a pivotal juncture as climate change and rising pollution levels reshape its operational landscape. The sector’s vulnerability to climate risks is more pronounced than ever. Rising sea levels, erosion, and heatwaves threaten infrastructure stability, while air quality concerns impact liveability and property demand in urban centres. These challenges translate into higher maintenance costs,…

AS CONCERNS AROUND climate change intensify, investors are increasingly looking for opportunities that allow them to support the environment without compromising on returns. Among various financial instruments, green bonds have emerged as a distinct avenue to direct capital toward environmentally sustainable projects. There are also mutual funds that invest in companies that meet environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria, providing a broader range of sustainable investment opportunities. Green bonds carved out a unique space as far as investing in the green economy was concerned. However, high entry barriers and modest returns have led to other investing instruments gaining traction of late. It begs the question then, are green bonds worth investing in? UNDERSTANDING GREEN BONDS At their core, green bonds are like traditional bonds. They are debt instruments issued by…

IN THIS EDITION of India’s Most Sustainable Companies awards, BT partnered with CareEdge-ESG, a Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi)-registered ESG Rating Provider (ERP), to develop a comprehensive assessment framework, incorporating both quantitative metrics and qualitative factors. Relying upon publicly available disclosures for this assessment, CareEdge-ESG has shortlisted top three performers in each of the 15 awards categories, from a universe of top 1,000 listed entities. To select the most remarkable companies, CareEdge-ESG evaluated the top 1,000 NSE-listed companies as per market capitalisation. Subsequently, 12 sectors were shortlisted based on their impact on the environmental and social themes. Further, the companies were grouped based on the similarity in their business model. A total of 183 companies made the cut. To arrive at the rankings, the companies were assessed on…

What was the problem you were facing? Our Series B investment thesis failed miserably, leaving us in debt. We were in a not-so-ideal position of having to court new investors with virtually no leverage. This problem was the result of different factors: we had underestimated the underlying risks, there was a minefield of escalating tensions between investors and management, and several seemingly concrete deals fell through at the eleventh hour. The challenge was to find the ideal way to convey this dire situation to prospective investors. Whom did you approach for advice? I felt the solution could come from someone who could offer that invaluable perspective from the other side of the negotiating table. Despite years in business, the investor mindset had remained somewhat opaque to me. So, I turned…

TATA STEEL’S COMMITMENT to sustainability is not a reaction to recent environmental pressures, it’s a legacy embedded in its corporate DNA. Decades before sustainability became a corporate mandate, the company was laying the groundwork for responsible industrial development. As early as 1927, Tata Steel established Tata Pigments to repurpose steelmaking waste, showcasing a vision for circularity long before the term entered mainstream discourse. In the 1940s, the construction of Dimna Lake to supply water to Jamshedpur, the industrial township it helped build, signalled an integrated approach to infrastructure, community, and the environment. In 2020, this philosophy took structured form through the launch of Project Aalingana, derived from the Sanskrit word for “embrace.” The initiative formalised Tata Steel’s sustainability goals around three pillars: emissions reduction, circularity, and biodiversity. With a bold target…

STEEL IS THE SINEW that holds India’s infrastructure together, stretching across its expanding cities, highways, bridges, and skylines. While steelmaking is inherently resourceintensive and impacts the environment, JSW Steel is working to change that balance. By investing in cleaner technologies and adopting smarter ways to use resources, the company aims to build infrastructure that is not only strong but more sustainable. JSW is doubling down on green technologies, renewable power, and circular practices, to grow sustainability. “Reconciling growth with carbon reduction commitments in a highemission sector like steel is a fundamental challenge, but one that JSW Steel is actively addressing with our defined sustainability roadmap,” says Prabodha Acharya, Chief Sustainability Officer of JSW Group. The company has won the Business Today Sustainability Leadership Award in the manufacturing category for the metals…

THE INDIAN CEMENT industry is central to building a sustainable future for the nation and as one of the key enablers of infrastructure and growth, the sector must balance development with environmental responsibility. Among these companies, Shree Cement has focused on launching premium products in the market and that strategy has helped it improve average realisation per tonne by about 5% on a sequential basis. A key driver for the high average realisation is the drop in the fuel sourcing cost with a rising share of green energy and efficiency measures. Recognising the market demand for premium products, the share of premium products in its overall sales increased from 11.9% in the fourth quarter of financial year 2023-24 (Q4FY24) to 15.6% in Q4FY25. In Q4FY25, the company launched Bangur Marble cement,…

FROM ITS HUMBLE beginnings in 1992 as a charitable organisation to its evolution into a regulated small finance bank, sustainability has never been an afterthought at ESAF Small Finance Bank (SFB)—it’s been its essence. “Sustainability has been embedded in the very DNA of our organisation,” says K. Paul Thomas, MD & CEO of ESAF SFB. Long before ESG was recognised as a global standard, ESAF had already established a dedicated Natural Resource Management department. “Over time, this department evolved into the Sustainable Banking Department when ESAF became a bank. It is committed to overseeing how we deliver long-term value to our customers and stakeholders while adhering to rigorous sustainability standards.” Therefore, when ESAF Small Finance Bank (SFB) won the Business Today award for India’s Most Sustainable Companies in the BFSI category,…

IN 2019, Hindalco’s Birla Copper plant in Dahej, Gujarat, faced a massive challenge when heavy rainfall caused flooding, disrupting operations. The company carried out an assessment of the plant’s vulnerability to extreme weather and identified areas of improvement to protect it from future climate risks. But the impact of the initiative went beyond plant upgrades. It cultivated a forward-thinking mindset across the organisation and embedded climate adaptation and sustainability into its DNA. This was one of the several weather events over the past few years that have stalled factories. The impact, in fact, goes beyond operations. The Reserve Bank of India said in a report in December 2024 that climate risks have started impacting the financial system and pose systemic risks by causing direct damage to assets, leading to loan…

INDIA STANDS EXPOSED TO THE FULL SPECTRUM OF CLIMATE VOLATILITY. THE QUESTION IS NO LONGER WHETHER INDIA SHOULD LEAD, BUT WHETHER IT CAN AFFORD NOT TO THE GLOBAL CONVERSATION on climate action has become unmoored from credibility. Declarations continue, but delivery falters. The architecture of international commitment is weakened. Most advanced economies continue to operate with carbon-intensive systems while offering timelines that exceed political cycles and ignore frontline realities. For India, the consequences of inaction are neither abstract nor distant. The risks are local, immediate, and intensifying. India stands exposed to the full spectrum of climate volatility. The question is no longer whether India should lead, but whether it can afford not to. Conventional growth pathways are no longer tenable. Replicating the material intensity, spatial form, and ecological footprint of…

A ROBUST FRAMEWORK THAT COMBINES CLEAR AND EFFECTIVELY ENFORCED REGULATION AND EMPOWERED CONSUMERS IS ESSENTIAL THE HEIGHTENED AWARENESS around the state of the planet has spurred a global awakening, with consumers increasingly demanding environmentally responsible practices from businesses. The consumer lacks the tools for critical evaluation and can get caught in a web of carefully crafted illusions of greenwashing. There is a growing concern that the performative act of appearing green is overshadowing substantive environmental action. Greenwashing is the practice of misleading consumers about the environmental benefits of a product, service, or company. It’s the art of painting a verdant veneer over practices that remain fundamentally unsustainable. The motivations are clear: to capitalise on the growing eco-conscious consumer base, enhance brand image, and potentially attract investors who prioritise environmental, social,…

INDIA WILL NEED TO INVEST CLOSE TO $1 TRILLION ANNUALLY THROUGH 2050 TO STAY ON COURSE. THIS FIGURE IS NEARLY SIX TIMES OUR CURRENT DEPLOYMENT INDIA’S goal to achieve net-zero emissions is a defining opportunity to shape the next chapter of our economic and industrial growth journey to meet the aspirations of 1.4 billion people. The path to this will inevitably influence how industries evolve, how global partnerships are forged and how India positions itself as a leader. Innovation and scaling up solutions will enable us to achieve our ambitious targets. Across critical sectors—energy, supply chains, mobility, advanced materials, precision engineering, bio tech, agriculture and more—breakthrough technologies will be essential. While the technological roadmap may be emerging, the financial pathway to finance this innovation at the scale and pace it…

INDIA’S TRANSITION FROM REACTIVE CLIMATE RESPONSES TO PROACTIVE MITIGATION HINGES ON HOW INTELLIGENTLY WE INTEGRATE TECHNOLOGY ACROSS SECTORS SUSTAINABILITY IN INDIA can no longer be treated as a cyclical discussion tied to annual reports and regulatory deadlines. Sustainability must become a continuous, intelligencedriven discipline. For India, where economic advancement intersects with urgent decarbonisation imperatives, this evolution is increasingly enabled by one transformative force: technology. India is emerging as a crucible of tech-enabled sustainability. From real-time emissions monitoring to AI-driven resource analytics, technology is shifting the sustainability agenda. Technology is enabling a shift. Remote sensing, IoT sensors, and AI analytics now power real-time Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) systems, flagging emissions, water, and air quality anomalies for timely response. Yet fewer than 10% of industrial units operate continuous monitoring. The imperative…

AT A TIME when sustainability has become a boardroom priority requiring urgent decision-making and transparency, Mahindra & Mahindra has set the benchmark for corporate accountability. In recognition of these efforts, Mahindra & Mahindra has been selected as the winner in the ‘Best Disclosures and Transparency’ and ‘Best Auto OEM’ categories in Business Today’s inaugural Most Sustainable Companies Awards. The jury recognised the company’s commitment to clear, consistent, and comprehensive ESG (environmental, social and governance) reporting. “In FY24, we implemented several sustainability-focused projects across our manufacturing facilities, with a strong emphasis on energy conservation,” says Rajesh Jejurikar, Executive Director, Auto and Farm Business, at Mahindra & Mahindra. Jejurikar highlights some of the initiatives taken by the company as an automobile manufacturer. The company replaced traditional air circulators with BLDC technology air circulators.…

IN A WORLD increasingly shaped by climate urgency and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) needs, ICICI Bank has emerged as a sustainability frontrunner in the domestic banking sector. Its holistic approach—spanning responsible lending, sustainable business practices, and digital transformation—has earned it the Business Today Sustainability Leadership Award in the BFSI category for the banking sector. The bank’s journey toward sustainability began long before ESG became a buzzword. “ICICI has been in the service of the nation for the last 70 years,” says a spokesperson from the bank. “In these seven decades, we’ve consistently aligned our goals with India’s economic and societal progress.” A significant milestone came in 2008 with the establishment of the ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth, aimed at deepening the bank’s impact on social and environmental development. The lender’s…

A LEADING hospitality chain with high electricity consumption—energy accounts for roughly 40% fixed cost of a hotel—approached Siemens for help. The global technology leader delivered average energy savings of around 13% while substantially reducing emissions. By combining the real and digital worlds and harnessing the transformative power of technologies such as artificial intelligence, Siemens is helping customers accelerate their path to sustainability, while reducing the environmental footprint. It is the winner in the heavy electrical category in manufacturing. “We have made significant progress towards net zero. Our goals include a 90% reduction in emissions from own operations and a 20% reduction in emissions in the supply chain (both by 2030), apart from net zero by 2050,” says Sunil Mathur, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Siemens Ltd. The Indian entity of…

AT FIRST GLANCE, CreditAccess Grameen or CA Grameen may appear to be just another microfinance institution. But dig a little deeper, and you’ll discover a purpose-led organisation blending grassroots financial inclusion with a long-term commitment to ESG excellence. With a customer base of around 4.7 million borrowers, 99.97% of whom are women, CA Grameen’s work is as much about livelihoods as it is about lives. “For us, sustainability isn’t just a checkbox. It’s in the way we operate, the way we grow, and most importantly, the way we empower,” says Ganesh Narayanan, Managing Director and CEO. Over the years, the company has evolved from a credit provider to a community catalyst. CA Grameen’s approach is framed under the ESFG model: Environment, Social, Financial, and Governance. This four-pronged strategy is the backbone…

AS WE UNDERSTAND it today, the concept of sustainability began to take shape during the 1970s and 1980s. The first major United Nations conference addressing environmental concerns was held in 1972. After various accords, protocols, and COP summits, the term “ESG” (Environmental, Social, and Governance) was officially coined in 2004 by the United Nations Global Compact in its Who Cares Wins report. Since then, the ESG landscape has evolved significantly—governments, the private sector, and investment firms have adopted various ESG practices—redefining energy and sustainability within broader business frameworks. With the concept of ESG evolving from the Western world, it has been noted that ESG definitions were often coined to suit Western interests without taking into account the challenges of implementation and relevance in developing countries. While ESG aims to promote…

THERE IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR AFFECTED COUNTRIES TO BRING THEIR COLLECTIVE UNDERSTANDING FOR MORE EFFECTIVE CLIMATE ACTION EVERY YEAR, FOR the last several years, has been deemed as the hottest year on record. 2025 has already surpassed previous numbers with January seeing temperatures of 1.75°C above pre-industrial levels. The trend is likely to continue. Rising heat is not the only manifestation of climate change, there have been more than usual forest fires, heavier monsoons and snowstorms, and more frequent cyclones. The rapid growth and scale of climate impacts, expected to increase exponentially according to IPCC reports, tells us plainly that no one is immune—not even the richer countries. Climate events in January 2025 alone have affected every single part of the planet, from massive storms in the UK to heavy…

WOMEN DEPEND MORE ON NATURAL RESOURCES FOR THEIR LIVELIHOODS AND SURVIVAL THAN MEN. IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES, WOMEN PRODUCE UP TO 80% OF THE FOOD WOMEN ARE OFTEN referred to as the “shock absorbers” of climate change, who are on the frontlines of the crisis. Across the country, many stories illustrate how women are most impacted by climate change and are responding with innovative solutions. In Zaheerabad, a semi-arid, drought-prone region in Telangana, women farmers have formed sanghams (village-level voluntary groups) to shift from water-intensive rice and wheat farming to grow millets, climate resilient and hardy grains. This has helped fight chronic malnutrition and food insecurity in the community along with replenishing the water table. The practice has become so widespread that more than 14,000 women across 50 villages are a…

IN REGIONS WHERE POVERTY, INFORMALITY AND UNDERDEVELOPMENT PERSIST, A HARD SHIFT TO DEGROWTH WITHOUT SYSTEMIC SAFETY NETS COULD BE DESTABILISING GROWTH FETISHISM, a phenomenon that views GDP growth as the ultimate measure of economic progress, has characterised the development paradigm of the global South. The BRICS nations, including India, epitomise this vision. From a paradigmatic perspective, this vision is reductionist, to say the least—the complex multidimensional notion of development is reduced to a single numerical variable. Such unbridled, mindless pursuit of growth often blurs the costs of growth, namely, accelerating climate change, deepening inequality, and a degrading ecosystem. Climate change is not fundamentally an environmental problem, but a developmental one. It emerges from the systemic failure to factor in the environmental and social costs of unbridled growth. And yet, in…

INDIA NEEDS TO PREPARE ITS SUSTAINABLE FINANCE ROADMAP AND AUGMENT FINANCE FROM AVAILABLE AND NEW SOURCES AND PARTNERS ONE OF THE FIRST decisions of Trump’s second administration was to pull out of the Paris Agreement and retract from its financial contributions to global climate mechanisms. Add to it the sleight of tariffs which increase the risk of continued volatility in global markets, rise in inflation, protectionism, and economic slowdown. These developments can result in countries and firms stepping sideways on climate action, possibly hurting the green transition momentum in the short term. In these uncertain times, green transition presents itself as a strong economic offering for India. Financing such a climate responsive development transformation is not without challenges. If anything, Trump’s moves should accelerate our efforts domestically and internationally to…