ESG Risk AI, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Acuite Ratings & Research Limited, is India’s first ESG rating company with an India specific assessment framework. Acuite Ratings & Research is a bond and bank loan rating agency accredited by RBI and registered with SEBI.

The global risk landscape is changing. In the coming decades, Indian businesses will increasingly face environmental, social and governance risks. Businesses will have to discover new ways to reduce their environmental footprint and be more efficient and responsible with the use of water, energy and other natural resources. They will also have to integrate cost pertaining to their environmental impact into their product pricing as well as deal with the expectations of various stakeholders in terms of transparency, disclosures and business ethics. Social responsibility too will take a new dimension with automation and technology obsolescence, especially in an economy already burdened with low per capita income and lack of quality employment.

These aspects, in absence of risk management and mitigation mechanism, will aggravate the credit risk for lenders and make returns from investment more uncertain. Simple ESG compliance may not be sufficient to improve companies’ profitability.

This is where an independent, unbiased, forward-looking and nuanced ESG rating system can help corporates with measuring their own performance and relative performance among their industry peers. It enables them in identifying weaknesses and opportunities and strengthening their competitive advantage. An ESG rating system also provides policymakers and lenders with a mechanism to reward high performing companies and helps investors in identifying sustainable business opportunities.

ESG Risk AI aims to be the most preferred provider of ESG Ratings of Indian companies and strives to lead and facilitate the ESG revolution about to sweep the country.