Filing BRSR in XBRL: what the exchanges require, and the mistakes that cause trouble

A BRSR is read by people — investors, analysts, journalists — and by machines: the exchanges, data providers and regulators who compare thousands of reports. That is why it is filed twice, as a PDF and as XBRL. This guide covers what the exchanges require and how to avoid the errors that lead to rework.

What is XBRL, and why does BRSR use it?

XBRL is "the global standard that powers digital reporting" — a free, open standard maintained by XBRL International⁵. A taxonomy is its dictionary: for BRSR, it defines an element for each question and each figure, with its data type and unit. An instance document is your report expressed with those elements, so a computer can read "Scope 1 emissions, FY 2025-26, standalone: 3,412.6 tCO₂e" without interpreting a table in a PDF.

For BRSR, that means a regulator or analyst can compare every filer's water consumption or women's share of wages directly, instead of retyping PDFs.

What do the exchanges require?

SEBI requires the BRSR as part of the annual report⁶. The exchanges' circulars and FAQs set out how it is filed¹²:

• Both formats, same day. The BRSR is filed in PDF and XBRL, on the same day the annual report is filed.
• Both exchanges. A company in the top 1,000 on either exchange files with both NSE and BSE. Either exchange's utility can be used for both.
• They must match. The XBRL and the PDF must not differ.
• "Not applicable" needs a reason — in the PDF and in the XBRL.
• Revisions sparingly. A revised BRSR goes through the same route, only as a last resort, with a covering letter explaining the change.

On NSE, BRSR XBRL has been filed through NEAPS under Common XBRL Upload → Business Responsibility & Sustainability Report since 25 February 2023³. NSE's XBRL information page lists the current BRSR utility and taxonomy files; those listed in October 2026 carry a 30 March 2026 timestamp in their file names⁴. Use the current files for each filing: an old utility can produce an instance the exchange rejects.

What goes into the XBRL instance?

Besides the figures themselves, every value in an instance carries the facts a machine needs to read it unambiguously:

• The entity: who is reporting — the company's identifiers and name, as in Section A of the report.
• The period: the financial year a figure belongs to, or the date a balance is measured at — so this year's and last year's figures sit side by side without confusion.
• The boundary: whether the report is standalone or consolidated, matching what Section A states.
• The unit and precision: gigajoules, kilolitres, tonnes, rupees, percentages, numbers of people — and how many decimals the figure is accurate to.
• Narrative answers: text for questions answered in words, such as policies, explanations and the reasons an item is not applicable.

Validation errors are often one of these missing or inconsistent — a unit left blank, a prior-year figure tagged with this year's period, a "not applicable" with no reason text.

Who does what on filing day?

Filing is usually the company secretary's task, but the content belongs to the people who prepared and approved the figures. A clear split avoids last-minute surprises:

How does the filing work?

1. Prepare and approve the BRSR figures and text — the same data the PDF is built from.
2. Produce the XBRL instance: fill the exchange's Excel-based BRSR utility and generate the file, or use software that produces an instance against the same taxonomy — and confirm the exchange portal accepts it well before filing day.
3. Validate with the utility's or software's checks, and fix every error.
4. Compare the XBRL with the PDF figure by figure, especially anything edited after the first draft.
5. Upload on the exchange portals on the day the annual report is filed, and keep the acknowledgement.

The mistakes that cause trouble

A short checklist before you file

• The figures are approved and frozen; any later change regenerates both PDF and XBRL.
• Every unit matches the element; no scaled values.
• Every "not applicable" has its reason in both formats.
• Prior-year comparatives agree with last year's filing, or restatements are explained.
• The instance validates without errors in the current utility or software.
• The filing goes to both exchanges on the day the annual report is filed.

How ESGTrack helps

ESGTrack builds the BRSR PDF and its XBRL file from the same approved figures, identifies your company by its ISIN, validates the file with built-in rules — and with the Arelle processor where it is installed — and runs a filing check across every question, including mandatory questions that do not apply, which it answers "Not applicable" with their reason. Every version is kept, with a SHA-256 hash checked at download. See BRSR and BRSR Core in ESGTrack.