ESG Global Vision

Corporate Governance Policy

In force

Every Indian company and all foreign companies operating in India which fulfil any one of the below criteria during the preceding financial year: 

a) net worth (assets minus liabilities) of INR 5,000,000,000 (c. USD 57m ) or more; or

b) turnover of INR 10,000,000,000 (c. USD 114m) or more; or 

c) net Profit of INR 50,000,000 (c. USD 570k) or more.

The CSR Rules set out mandatory requirements for in scope companies to set up a CSR committee and spend at least 2% of their average net profits made during the three preceding financial years, on CSR.

The relevant CSR committee is required to formulate and recommend a CSR Policy to the board of the company. This CSR Policy must indicate and advise on activities and/or projects in relation to CSR issues to be undertaken by the company and monitor the same.

The board's annual report on CSR for each financial year should include input from the CSR committee, as well as detailed disclosures on CSR spend, including those on unspent amounts, amounts available for set off and administrative overheads in a prescribed form.

Corporate Governance Policy

In force

Every company operating in India 

A company’s annual report is required, amongst other things, to include a report on the steps undertaken by the company during the relevant reporting period in the relation to the conservation of energy, the use of alternate sources of energy, technology absorption, product improvement, and cost reduction, as well as including a Director’s Responsibility Statement stating that the directors have devised proper systems to ensure compliance with the provisions of all applicable laws.

Corporate Governance Policy

In force

The top 1000 listed companies (by market capitalisation) in India 

From the financial year commencing 1 April 2022, it is mandatory for in scope companies to file a Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report reflecting disclosures relating to environmental compliance (energy consumption, water withdrawal, air emissions, waste management, sustainable sourcing), social parameters (well-being of employees, gender and social diversity, performance and career development policies, accessibility of workplaces, equal opportunity), and governance policies (anti-corruption, anti-bribery, training and awareness programs).

Environmental Policy

In force

All enterprises in the states of: Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tripura and West Bengal and in the Union territories, and in any other state which adopts this legislation.

The Water Pollution Act is aimed at preventing the pollution of waterways, rivers, lakes, and reservoirs by industrial facilities and factories through mandating the control of pollutants and other contaminants.

The Government of India has set up pollution control boards at central and state level and conferred powers and functions on these bodies to regulate and enforce the proper implementation of the Act.

The Act mandates that all industrial establishments discharging or treating waste/sewage/ trade effluent into any water body must obtain the prior consent of the relevant authority before doing so.

Environmental Policy

In force

Energy plants producing hydrogen and ammonia

The Green Hydrogen Policy was introduced to promote domestic production of green hydrogen and ammonia, as a ‘cleaner’ alternative for use in oil refineries, fertiliser plants and steel units.

Under the Policy, the government has pledged to grant a waiver of inter-state transmission charges for a period of 25 years to producers of green hydrogen and green ammonia for projects commissioned before December 31, 2030.

Projects commissioned after this date will attract gradated transmission charges, depending on the date of implementation. 

The government is in the process of setting up a single portal for all statutory clearances and permissions required for setting up and operating such production facilities. 

Environmental Policy

In force

All entities electing to purchase and consume renewable energy

The Green Energy Rules are aimed at encouraging entities and large-scale energy consumers, including industrial and manufacturing facilities, to source their power from renewable energy sources.

The government has, through the Union Power Ministry, formulated and implemented the ‘Renewable Purchase Obligation’, a mechanism under which consumers have to purchase a certain percentage of their electricity consumption from renewable energy sources.

The Grid Controller of India Limited has been nominated by the government as the central agency which will operate a single-window green energy open access system for renewable energy.

Environmental policy

In force

Every company operating in India

The Air Pollution Act lays down a number of measures to allow state and national entities to monitor air pollutants, and sets standards for enterprises contributing to air pollution and contamination. 

The Government of India has set up pollution control boards at central and state level and conferred powers and functions on these bodies to regulate and enforce the proper implementation of the Act.

The Act mandates that, prior to commencing the commission or operation of a plant, factory, manufacturing centre, or any other polluting facility, permission must be sought from the relevant state or national authority. 

Labour codes

Enacted in September 2020 but yet to come into force.

Factories with 20 or more workers operating with the aid of mechanical power

Factories with 40 or more workers operating without the aid of mechanical power

The Code is due to replace the Factories Act, the Plantations Labour Act, the Mines Act, and various other pieces of legislation passed in the 1940s and 50s into one consolidated piece of legislation.

The Code is intended to impose duties and requirements on in scope employers to, amongst other things:

1. ensure that employees’ workspace(s) are free from hazards or dangers that could or are likely to cause injury, illness, or occupational harm to employees;
2. provide free annual health checks to employees particularly at risk of certain harms;
3. provide and maintain a safe working environment; and
4. ensure that employees are not unfairly penalised for requesting or implementing health and safety improvements in the workplace.

The Code also imposes requirements on managers, owners, builders, and architects in relation to:

1. overtime;
2. notification of accidents or disease;
3. mining safety;
4. inspections;
5. welfare;
6. annual leave and hours of work; and
7. night shifts.

Enforcement and penalties

Offences against, and breaches of, the Code, can result in penalties ranging from fines of INR 10,000 for the violation of the Code by an employee, to two years in prison and a fine of INR 500,000 for an offence leading to the death of an employee.  

Social Policy

In force

Every company operating in India 

Under the Act, employers are required to pay equal remuneration for the same work to men and women in the workplace and provide protection against discrimination against women on the grounds of sex. 

This protection extends to hiring, promotion, and transfer practices, forbidding employers preferring male workers over equally or more competent female workers.

The Act does not address maternity leave, pregnancy, marriage, or women’s health.

Penalties and Fines

Breach of the Act can result in significant fines, and imprisonment for those “in charge of, and responsible to, the company”.

Social Policy

In force

Every company operating in India

The Disability Acts provide the framework for the employment of disabled people in India. It requires every company to formulate an equal opportunity policy, which should detail measures to ensure of that disabled people should not be discriminated against with regards to their hiring, promotion, or employment.  

Penalties and Fines

Breach of the Act can result in significant fines, and imprisonment for the most serious breaches. 

Social Policy

In force

Every company operating in India 

The Transgender Act provides the framework for the employment of transgender people in India. It requires every company to formulate an equal opportunity policy, which should detail measures to ensure of that transgender people should not be discriminated against with regards to their hiring, promotion, or employment

The Act’s scope extends to intersex people, hijras, jogtas, kinnars, trans-men, and trans women.

The Act allows in scope people to apply to their local district magistrate for a transgender person certificate, allowing them to change their name and sex on their birth certificate, and other documents. 

Penalties and Fines

The Act includes provisions for penalties for breach of the Act, including imprisonment for not less than six months, and significant fines.  

Social Policy

In force

All premises wherein any trade, business or profession is carried out. All commercial establishments operating within each State are regulated by the respective State’s Establishments Act. 

The Establishments Act regulates the operation of commercial establishments with respect to working hours, payment of wages, overtime, leave, holiday, terms of service, employment conditions applicable to female employees, and various other requirements. 

Social Policy

In force

Every Indian industrial establishment carrying on any business, trade, manufacture or distribution of goods and services irrespective of the number of workers employed therein. Every person employed in an establishment for hire or reward including contract labour, apprentices and part-time employees to do any manual, clerical, skilled, unskilled, technical, operational or supervisory work, is also covered by the Industrial Disputes Act.

The Industrial Disputes Act does not apply to persons subject to the Air Force Act, 1950, the Army Act, 1950 and the Navy Act, 1957. Persons employed for police service, prison and mainly in a managerial or administrative capacity or supervisory employees drawing wages exceeding INR 10,000 (USD 114 approx.) per month are also outside the ambit of the Act.

The Industrial Disputes Act is designed to ensure fair and equal terms between employers employees through providing a resolution process for any disputes that arise between employer and employee. 

The aim of the legislation is to, through negotiation and cooperation, promote harmony in industrial workplaces, and to reduce the chance of strikes and industrial actions. 

The Act provides for various mechanisms to settle industrial disputes, including mediation, settlements, and negotiations.  The Act also includes measures designed to allow workers laid off on account of closures, retrenchment, or other redundancies to be adequately compensated for the termination of their employment.  

Social Policy

In force

Every enterprise employing more than 1,000 people within a single state.  

The Wages Act aims to secure the welfare and economic security of workers by providing for minimum wages in areas of employment as identified under the Wages Act, principally in relation to manufacturing and agriculture.

The Act empowers central government to fix and revise the minimum wage in such employment areas and to fix the number of working hours and rest days to prevent exploitation of workers. It is also empowered to fix the overtime rate for employees with a fixed minimum wage.

A ”Central Advisory Board” has been set up by the central government to ensure proper implementation of the Wages Act, and enforce against possible breaches.

Social Policy

In force

All industrial facilities employing over 100 people.

The Standing Orders Act defines the conditions of employment for in scope industrial workers.

The Act seeks to establish smooth working relations between employers and workers, as well as addressing issues of exploitation by employers.

The Act also regulates a number of conditions of employment for in scope facilities, including but not limited to: the classification of employees, working hours, attendance, suspension, and termination.

Every in scope employer is required to submit “standing orders” to the competent authority, setting out the conditions of work of its employees.

The standing orders must include information relating to employee classification, shift working, suspension, termination, actions for misconduct, redressal mechanism, and maintenance of employee records.  They must also certified by the relevant labour commissioner having jurisdiction over the establishment.

Social Policy

In force

Every industrial enterprise employing over 20 employees.

The Act is not applicable to establishments in which the work is defined as “only intermittent or casual”.

Most state governments have limited the applicability of the Act within their respective states only to establishments employing over 50 employees.

The Contract Labour Act regulates the employment of contract labourers and aims to prevent their exploitation by their employer(s).

It is intended to ensure that proper working conditions are provided to contract labourers.

The Act mandates that central and state advisory boards are set up to deal with matters arising out of the administration of the Act, including enforcement and regulation.

The Act also lays down the relevant procedures for the licencing of contractors and the registration of establishments employing contract labour.

Social Policy

In force

Every company operating in India 

The Bonded Labour Abolition Act provides for the abolition of the bonded labour system to prevent economic and physical exploitation of workers more vulnerable to economic exploitation.

The Act also provides that any agreement, custom, tradition or contract by virtue of which any person, family member or dependant of such person is required to do any bonded labour, is void and inoperative, and that any debt, mortgage of property or credit of a bonded labourer is deemed to be extinguished.

State governments have also set up “Vigilance Committees” under the Act to manage and regulate the implementation and enforcement of the Act.

Social Policy

The Social Security Code is currently not in force.  It will come into force on a date to be notified by the government in its official Gazette.

Employees (other than apprentices engaged under the Apprentices Act, 1961) employed under the Social Security Code by Government of India (excluding armed forces employees).   

The Social Security Code will subsume, amend and consolidate nine pieces of labour legislation relating to social security with the goal of extending social security to all employees and workers, including those outside of the traditional employer-employee relationship, to ensure access to health care, maternity benefits and to provide income security and insurance cover, amongst other things.

The Code will also provide for the compulsory registration of every unorganised, gig and platform worker, to assist the competent regulator in enforcing and regulating breaches and compliance with the Code.  

Social Policy

In force

Every company operating in India 

The object of the Employees’ Compensation Act is to provide for the payment of compensation by employers to their employees for injuries suffered by them due to accidents in the course of their employment. Occupational disease is treated as an accident for the purposes of the Act.

The Act also covers payments to the dependents of a deceased employee in case of their death in the course of employment, as well as detailing the payments due to injured employees, based on the severity of their injuries.  

Social Policy

In force

Every company operating in India with more than ten employees. 

The Maternity Benefit Act provides for mandatory maternity benefits for women upon giving birth, but also in cases of adoption, miscarriage, and others.  

Social Policy

In force

Every company operating in India

The POSH Act aims to provide protection for women against sexual harassment in the workplace and to provide a framework for prevention and compensation following complaints of sexual harassment.

The mechanism for redress and compensation as provided in the POSH Act takes the form of an Internal Complaints Committee, which acts as regulator, mediator, and enforcer. 

“Local Complaints Committees” are also constituted at the State or District level to deal with complaints from workplaces employing fewer than ten workers or by a domestic worker or when the complaint is against the employer. 

Social Policy

In force

Every company operating in India

The Act differs state by state, as it has been brought into law in slightly different forms by the states’ individual legislatures and/or governments.

The Act provides for the contribution by an employer to a “Labour Welfare Fund” for promoting the welfare of labourers. Respective state governments have constituted individual state Labour Welfare Funds, which constitutes a pot of money derived from fines, penalties, voluntary donations, and other contributions.  The Funds are then used to address welfare issues for workers, provide compensation for accident/injury/harassment, and improve working conditions.   

Social Policy

In force

Children under 14 years of age, in respect of all forms of employment, and adolescents under 16 years of age in respect of hazardous occupations and professions.  

The Child Labour Act prohibits the engagement of children in all occupations and adolescents in hazardous occupations and processes. The government has set up a Technical Advisory Committee for the purposes of identifying occupations and processes deemed unfit for children and adolescents.

In relation to work done by adolescents, the Act sets out strict limits on the number of hours worked in specified periods, and regulations as to overtime, health and safety, annual leave, to ensure that adolescents have fair and sustainable working conditions.   

Social Policy

In force

All employers employing more than five inter-state migrant workers.  

The Migrant Workers Act regulates the employment of inter-state migrant workers by providing for their conditions of service. Under the Act, every establishment/contractor who wishes to employ inter-state migrant workers must be registered as doing so, and report regularly on their conditions of work. 

Social Policy

In force

Every establishment and factory employing ten or more people.

The Employees Insurance Act is not applicable to employees whose salary exceeds INR 21,000 (USD 240 approx.) per month.

The Employees Insurance Act aims to provide financial support to employees in case of emergencies such as disablement or death due to sickness, maternity and employment injury.

As part of the Act, the Government of India has established Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (“ESIC”) under the Employees Insurance Act to grant relief to employees in case of the emergencies referred to above.

Employers are required to make contributions to the ESIC on behalf of employees, from which employees can avail themselves of medical care and/or cash benefits in the event of disablement or death due to sickness, maternity and employment injury.