Best of BS Opinion: India must align ESG disclosures with global standards

Today's opinions examine PVC import restrictions, India's judicial backlog, reforms to ESG disclosures, digital inequalities in Neet and what Google searches reveal about society

Hello, and welcome to the Best of BS Opinion, our wrap of the day's Opinion page. 

India's decision to impose a minimum import price on suspension-grade PVC resin is likely to raise costs across downstream industries without reducing the country's dependence on imports. Today's first editorial contends that, with domestic production meeting only about a third of demand, the measure will strengthen the pricing power of local producers while increasing input costs for manufacturers, infrastructure projects, and exporters. It notes that India's persistent PVC deficit reflects structural constraints, including inadequate feedstock availability and petrochemical infrastructure. A more durable solution would be to expand domestic production capacity, improve access to key inputs, and develop integrated infrastructure. 

 

Increasing the sanctioned strength of Supreme Court judges is a welcome step but will have only a limited impact on India's mounting judicial backlog, notes our second editorial. The overwhelming burden of cases still lies with High Courts and subordinate courts, where vacancies, inadequate infrastructure, weak case management, procedural delays, and excessive government litigation continue to impede justice delivery. The mixed record of fast-track courts further underlines the limits of creating specialised courts without broader reforms. Filling judicial vacancies, modernising court administration, expanding technology adoption, and promoting pre-litigation dispute resolution are essential to improving judicial efficiency and contract enforcement. 

India's business responsibility and sustainability reporting framework should evolve to make environmental, social, and governance disclosures more relevant, comparable, and globally credible, writes Ajay Tyagi. He recommends introducing sector-specific reporting templates, benchmarking corporate performance against government sustainability targets, expanding coverage beyond the top 1,000 listed firms, and creating dedicated ESG committees at the board level. Smaller enterprises should be brought into the framework gradually through a simplified reporting regime. Aligning India's disclosure standards with internationally accepted ESG norms would, he argues, improve transparency and help attract the long-term foreign investment needed to finance sustainable growth. 

Shifting the undergraduate medical entrance examination to a computer-based format will strengthen the security and credibility of Neet, argues Dibyasree Ganguly, but it also risks disadvantaging students with limited access to digital resources. Drawing on recent survey evidence, she highlights sharp disparities in computer ownership and digital literacy across rural and urban areas, income groups, and gender. Without adequate preparation opportunities, familiarity with digital interfaces could become an unintended determinant of performance. To bridge these access gaps, investments in computer infrastructure, digital literacy, and free practice facilities are essential to ensure that the transition improves not only the examination's integrity but also its fairness. 

Simon Rogers' What We Ask Google explores what Google Trends data reveal about human behaviour, using search patterns to examine themes ranging from everyday tasks to love, grief, and social change. Arushi Bhaskar finds the book engaging and accessible, particularly in explaining how search data is collected and interpreted, and in tracing shifts in online behaviour after the pandemic. However, she suggests its optimism about what search data says about society is overstated, its focus on the US and UK limits its broader relevance, and its treatment of artificial intelligence's impact on search is surprisingly brief.