This paper consists of a qualitative and quantitative analysis of how external ESG assurance effects the quality of a company‟s BRSR. The companies chosen are the top 50 according to market capitalization (NSE). The study focuses on qualitative aspects of a report by a scoring method which determines its quality. Followed by a statistical analysis containing a dependent variable and several independent variables to showcase what are the elements most important to determine the quality of a company‟s BRSR. It was concluded that unlike financial reports, whose quality can be determined by assessing the market capitalization among various other financial factors, external ESG assurance can be a promising marker to determine the quality of an ESG centric report, such as the BRSR. Which would further help various stakeholders such as investors, employees, etc. The future scope of research suggests ways to anticipate challenges, how to mitigate them, and how to continue understanding the importance of ESG Assurance in the quickly evolving Indian scenario of business sustainability.
Keywords: ESG Assurance, External Assurance, BRSR, Business Sustainability, ESG.