There has been some quantitative increase in corporate responsibility disclosures by the top 100 (by gross revenues in 2012-13) listed entities in the country.

“But the quality of disclosures needs a quantum leap,” said management consulting firm KPMG.

“The average quality score for all corporate responsibility (CR) reports is 42 out of a possible 100, indicating that there is a need to significantly improve the quality of CR reporting in India,” KPMG said in its second survey in the country.

Average score The consultancy found that IT companies have the best quality reports in India with an average score of 64, while the pharmaceutical sector has the lowest average score of 20.

In the area of stakeholder engagement process, Indian corporate disclosures tend to be qualitatively better.

KPMG found least disclosure on supplier and value chain impacts, said the India Corporate Responsibility Reporting Survey 2013, released on Thursday.

Big risks emerging from the value chain-related responsibility issues were seldom identified and addressed.

Some improvement “Reporting rate in India has soared to 73 per cent, but a few key sectors like the financial services are left out,” the survey document said.

Thirty-nine per cent of the top companies have restated the information presented for earlier reporting years.

However, the quality of data reported sees an improvement with 71 per cent restatements relating to improved estimations / calculations, enhanced scope of reporting and updates in definitions.

Some 29 per cent of restatements were made owing to an error or omission.

jayanta.mallick@thehindu.co.in

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