Introduction

In early 2025, I began digging into a pressing regulatory shift: India’s top 250 listed companies were now responsible for reporting ESG impacts not just within their walls but across 75% of their value chains. While the goal was progressive, the execution was chaos. Emails. Excel sheets. Vague guidance. Repetitive, redundant requests. This case study captures how I approached this space—through interviews, shadowing, simulations, and prototyping—to propose a modular product for Recykal that simplifies BRSR Core reporting, particularly for overwhelmed MSME suppliers and stretched ESG teams.

1. Problem Understanding

Context & Background

The SEBI-mandated BRSR Core framework (effective FY 2024-25) requires disclosure of ESG metrics across the value chain. This means hundreds of suppliers per company now need to report granular, verifiable data in a standardised format.

Current Challenges

High friction for suppliers, leading to poor data quality No shared platform for ESG collection MSME capability gaps in understanding or calculating ESG indicators Compliance risk due to delayed, inaccurate, or unverifiable submissions One supplier told me: "We send what we can—but honestly, I don’t even know what Scope 1 means. We just copy from last year."

Impact of Current State

• High friction for suppliers always leads to late/poor-quality data submissions
• Limited visibility for ESG teams creates last-minute compliance challenges
• Audit readiness risks always exists due to manual traceability and scattered evidence management
• Compliance uncertainty leads to risk of penalties and reputation damage

2. Key Objectives- Goals

• Streamline partner engagement: Reduce onboarding friction by 70% and cut data collection cycle time by 50%
• Enhance data quality: Embed contextual guidance and validation to achieve 90% first-time-right submissions
• Enable audit-ready reporting: Deliver one-click, fully traceable BRSR reports, reducing ESG team effort by 60%

North Star Metric: 95% of companies using Recykal's platform should achieve audit-ready status with complete, accurate data before filing deadlines.

3. Assumptions

Regulatory Assumptions:

1. The top 250 companies must start BRSR Core reporting for value chains in FY 2024-25 and there will be no extensions provided.
2. Reporting is limited to suppliers/customers covering 75% of total purchase/sales.
3. Companies can report upstream and downstream separately or together.

Stakeholder Assumptions:

1. Large enterprises want to comply but lack tools to streamline ESG data collection.
2. Suppliers (esp. MSMEs) struggle with understanding BRSR indicators.

4. Research & Discovery

a. What exactly is the problem ?

a. Primary Research: Interviews with Procurement, Compliance & ESG Officers

I conducted comprehensive stakeholder research to validate the problem statement and inform solution design:

Executive Interviews (5+):

• 2 ESG/Sustainability Officers at NSE 100 companies
• 1 Procurement/Supply Chain Heads managing diverse supplier networks
• 1 Compliance consultant specialising in ESG audits
• 1 Mid-sized suppliers serving multiple large enterprises
• Discovery Interviews: 5+ interviews across large ESG-compliant companies, suppliers, consulting firms, and ESG auditors.
• Conducted 5 structured interviews with:
  • ESG leads at large enterprises
  • Procurement heads managing suppliers
  • Compliance consultants handling ESG audits

Key Themes Identified:

• Suppliers have low awareness of BRSR Core requirements.
• Even large companies struggle with data unification across diverse systems (SAP, Excel, Email, etc.)
• Stakeholders want pre-templated, modular, guided flows for both internal and partner reporting.

b. Proxy Interviews

With limited access to suppliers under NDAs, I ran proxy interviews with consultants, ESG auditors, and even simulated mock submissions with MSMEs using Excel. I didn’t expect the level of confusion we saw: suppliers were getting 30–50 data emails from clients, often with no idea if their submissions were correct.

Given limited access to actual partner companies:

• Spoke to consultants and vendors who often sit in the supply chain of large companies.
• Simulated mock reporting using Excel with 3 SMEs to test assumptions of data accessibility and awareness.

Limitations: These interviews may not reflect the entire complexity faced by every industry. However, they reveal important directional insights such as trust, effort load, data friction, and guidance requirements.

c. Secondary Research:

• Analyzed BRSR reports of 10 NSE 250 companies to extract common reporting formats
• Reviewed SEBI circulars, MCA mandates, and WBCSD BRSR handbooks
• Painpoints Identified:
  • From Large Companies:
    • "We have 500+ suppliers to track and no system to manage their ESG data"
    • "Our ESG team spends 70% of time chasing suppliers for data corrections"
    • "We can't verify if supplier data is accurate or provide guidance at scale"
    • "Impossible to maintain audit trails across hundreds of email threads"
  • From Suppliers:
    • "Every client asks for similar data in different formats"
    • "We don't understand technical ESG terms like 'Scope 1 emissions'"
    • "Our small team can't handle these complex reporting requests"
    • "We submit data but never know if it meets requirements"

Contextual Observations: I shadowed 3 companies during their ESG reporting cycles, documenting:

• Average of 40+ email exchanges per supplier for data clarification
• 70% of submitted data requiring rework due to misinterpretation
• 22 days average cycle time from request to usable data
• Manual Excel consolidation taking 15+ person-days per reporting cycle

b. What other brands are doing?

Existing Solutions Assessment

I conducted a detailed analysis of current market offerings to identify gaps and opportunities:

After going through what our competitors are doing and analyzing our existing pro’s and con’s we can understand that :

a. Market Gaps Identified

1. No India-specific BRSR Core automated solution: Existing solutions require significant customization to align with BRSR Core principles and SEBI requirements.
2. Limited supplier experience optimization: Most platforms are designed for enterprise reporting without considering the supplier experience.
3. Poor multi-tier support: No solutions effectively address situations where suppliers work with multiple reporting companies.
4. Weak contextual guidance: Limited help for suppliers unfamiliar with ESG terminology and requirements.
5. Inflexible data collection: Most systems lack multi-format data collection capabilities needed for diverse supplier ecosystems.

b. What we can offer that will make us stand-out

Our solution differentiates from competitors by offering:

1. BRSR Core Native Architecture: Purpose-built for India's regulatory framework with pre-configured templates for all 9 principles.
2. Dual-perspective Design: Equal focus on both enterprise reporting needs and supplier user experience.
3. Multi-client Data Sharing: Suppliers can submit once and share with multiple corporate clients, reducing redundancy.
4. Intelligent Contextual Guidance: Embedded assistance tailored to Indian business context and sector-specific requirements.
5. Flexible Data Collection Pathways: Multiple submission formats (web, Excel, API) catering to different technical capabilities.
6. India-specific Compliance Focus: Aligned with SEBI timelines and reporting formats for immediate regulatory acceptance.

5. User Personas

Primary Personas

Vishnupriya, ESG Head (GNFZ)

• Goals: Ensure compliance, minimize reporting burden, maintain data integrity
• Pain Points: Limited visibility into reporting progress, fragmented data sources, tight deadlines
• Needs: Centralized dashboard, automated validation, compliance audit trail

Rajiv, Operations Manager (Supplier/MSME)

• Goals: Efficiently respond to customer ESG requests while focusing on core business
• Pain Points: Confusing terminology, redundant reporting requests, limited ESG expertise
• Needs: Simple guidance, reusable submissions, intuitive interface

Secondary Personas

Amit, ESG Head ( PwC)

• Goals: Minimize compliance risks, optimize reporting resources
• Pain Points: Lack of assurance on data quality, unexpected compliance costs
• Needs: Audit readiness, resource optimization, progress visibility

Priya, ESG Auditor

• Goals: Verify compliance efficiently with proper evidence trails
• Pain Points: Inconsistent documentation, manual cross-checking
• Needs: Structured evidence repository, change logs, validation records

6. Modular Approach & Phased Implementation

After going though all these , I wanted to revisit how other are doing and brainstorming on potential solutions that would work best for us. For the ease of this assignment and not plunge into an over extended flow, we will be going ahead by solving just for the MVP , and phased it out into two levels. I've designed a modular approach to ensure scalability, flexibility, and compliance-readiness. Each module addresses specific pain points while working together as an integrated solution.