Assessment (ISF)
The alternative to assurance that SEBI allowed for BRSR Core in March 2025: an assessment under standards of the Industry Standards Forum (ISF), in consultation with SEBI.
Until March 2025, SEBI’s BRSR Core framework referred to assurance. SEBI’s circular of 28 March 2025 changed this to “assessment or assurance”.
An assessment is carried out under standards set by the Industry Standards Forum (ISF), in consultation with SEBI. A company in the BRSR Core glide path may obtain either an assessment or assurance of its BRSR Core. The glide path itself did not change: the top 1000 listed entities by market capitalisation are covered from FY2026-27.
The company must make sure its assessment provider has no conflict of interest: the provider and its associates may not sell it products or non-assessment services, including consulting. The March 2025 circular applies this rule, first set for assurance providers in July 2023, to both routes.
What it means in practice
Whichever route you choose, the person checking your numbers will want to trace each Core KPI to its source records, its calculation and the people who approved it. Plan the evidence file first, then choose the route.
How Sustano fits
Sustano does not provide assessment or assurance. It gives your assessor view access to the workspace with its own review stage, the evidence behind each value, the calculation lineage and a tamper-evident audit trail they can verify without relying on Sustano. See also Sustano for assessors and auditors.
Learn more: Approvals and audit trail for assessors
Related terms
See how a number moves from a plant invoice to a locked disclosure.
Book a demo and we will walk through Sustano with an illustrative dataset: collection, review, lineage and the BRSR report.