SEBI chairman calls on CII to develop roadmap for integrated reporting

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) chairman U K Sinha on Wednesday stressed on the need to first create awareness and build the environment that is experienced with integrated reporting.

Speaking on Integrated Reporting at the '9th Sustainable and Inclusive Solutions Summit' organized by the CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development, Sinha invited CII to develop a roadmap on integrated reporting for discussion with SEBI.

He clarified that SEBI will not regulate disclosures that demand integrated reporting.

He suggested this approach based on SEBI's experience in the past of gradually improving transparency via various clauses of the listing agreement.

The SEBI chairman acknowledged that integrated reporting is the next step in the evolution of reporting and that it marks a fundamental change in the way corporates communicate with their stakeholders.

Questioning if corporates in India are ready for integrated reporting, he said, "We will be working along with industry to know in an incremental manner about integrated reporting rather than forcing something from our own side."

"Some of you might have seen that when we have moved towards certain aspects of corporate governance we have been very careful also to see that the trade and industry is prepared for the changes," he added.

Y C Deveshawar, past president, Confederation of Indian Industry, chairman, Advisory Council of the CII-ITC Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Development and Chairman, ITC Limited, emphasized the importance of rethinking capitalism and the role of reporting in it.

He argued that the kind of corporate reporting in India and the rest of the developed world cannot be the same because of the different challenges that exist in the developing countries.

According to him, responsible capitalism needs to be progressed with businesses synergizing the creation of shareholder and societal value in three steps; first with consumer value; second with utilizing resources; and third by replenishing resources.

The Chief Executive Officer of the International Integrated Reporting Council, Paul Druckman, while quoting Mahatma Gandhi said that happiness is when there is harmony in what you think, what you say, and what you do.