Edelweiss Group Releases its

Edelweiss Group Releases its FY 2020 Sustainability Report

·         One of India’s first non-banks to publish a Sustainability Report

·         Sustainability Report Aligned to 9 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which are globally accepted

·         Sustainability initiatives driven by a Council of Senior Leaders for ESG, led by a Board Director

·         Enhanced disclosures in FY20 through benchmarking against 50+ GRI standards

Edelweiss Group, one of India’s leading diversified financial services conglomerates, published its annual Sustainability Report today, reaffirming its commitment to a sustainable future. In its third edition, the report encapsulates the Group's Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) initiatives, providing an overview of its exigent Covid-19 efforts and sustainability disclosures, benchmarked against 50+ Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards. Edelweiss has voluntarily adopted the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) framework since 2018 and aligned its ESG efforts to 9 of the 17 SDGs. 

The Sustainability Report 2020 is available here. 

Edelweiss has a robust diversified platform spanning  Credit, Wealth & Asset Management, Asset Reconstruction and Insurance with sustainability practices adopted across all business functions. Addressing the needs of diverse stakeholders including employees and customers,  the Group is leveraging technology to further strengthen its operating structures, systems and processes to deliver on its sustainability commitment. As part of its efforts to institutionalize this process, an ESG Council has been appointed, comprising Senior Leaders, with Board level oversight, to meet the outlined goals.

Launching the Sustainability Report, Vidya Shah, Chairperson of the ESG Council at Edelweiss Group & CEO, EdelGive Foundation, said, “We are firm believers in doing business the ESG way. Sustainability principles are embedded in our business operations and we strive to have a positive impact on the communities we operate in. While the current report is an entirely organic effort put together by our ESG leaders and teams, these benchmarks reflect our resoluteness of purpose and our ambition to measure our progress, year on year. We seek  to get our Sustainability Report assured by an independent external advisor in the next few years, as we remain steadfast in our ESG journey.” she added.

Large Indian conglomerates and banks have adopted global sustainability reporting practices and nearly 72% of the NIFTY constituents have issued standalone sustainability reports. Beyond Nifty 50 companies, very few companies report on sustainability based on internationally accepted frameworks like GRI. Globally, asset managers and investors are increasingly looking at ESG as an important investment parameter. In India, asset managers have launched funds that target their investments towards companies that are compliant with ESG adoption. Edelweiss’s Asset Management entity (EAAA), India's largest player in Private Debt (AUM of Rs. 217 billion as of FY20) has voluntarily adopted the ESG policy, anchored to Principles of Responsible Investment (PRI) and UN Global Compact's 10 principles.