Evaluation of Sustainability Reporting Practices in Indian Banks – A Content Analysis Approach

Abstract

In present times to achieve sustainable development, business organisations are required to disclose their socio-environmental contribution along with their financial results and to incorporate sustainability into their business practices. This paper with the help of content analysis seeks to analyse the sustainability disclosures of selected Indian banks listed on BSE for the year 2019-20. It further examines any significant difference in the sustainability disclosure of selected banks based on their sustainability disclosure according to the Global Reporting Initiatives (GRI) framework, foreign market presence and ownership pattern. As per the results of content analysis, the study finds that Sustainability Reporting (SR) is lowest for the ‘Environment’ dimension followed by ‘Human Rights and Labour Practices’ while reporting under the ‘Governance’ dimension is highest. The ‘Social’ dimension is also fairly reported by the sample banks. The results of Mann Whitney U test indicate that sustainability disclosure is significantly different among selected banks based on the adoption of the GRI framework for sustainability reporting and no difference in SR is found based on ownership pattern and foreign market presence.