ECONOMY & POLICY

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ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance. From financial year 2022-2023, the top 1,000 listed companies in India (by market capitalisation) will need to prepare a ‘business responsibility and sustainability report’ (or BRSR), containing detailed ESG disclosures. The BRSR has to be a p...

ESG stands for Environmental, Social and Governance. From financial year 2022-2023, the top 1,000 listed companies in India (by market capitalisation) will need to prepare a ‘business responsibility and sustainability report’ (or BRSR), containing detailed ESG disclosures. The BRSR has to be a part of the annual report, which gets notified to the stock exchanges, published on official company websites and separately provided to shareholders. Before the BRSR became mandatory, the top 1,000 listed companies in India (by market capitalisation) had to publish a relatively shorter ‘business responsibility report’. In the current environment, health, safety and governance could be parameters of the measure of social aspects of the ESG agenda and will remain a high priority for the engineering and construction (E&C) industry. Governance will be a sensitive issue given the size and complexity of contracts, competitive bidding processes and the need to engage with both public and private stakeholders and to prevent bribery, corruption and anticompetitive behaviour. The building and construction sector is responsible for 39 per cent of carbon emissions globally, according to the World Green Building Council, and hence has to work hard to match the goals and commitments. Therefore, carbon reduction and environmental initiatives are a business imperative for contractors in the days ahead. India ranks a lowly 120 among 165 countries in its progress towards achieving all 17 SDGs (sustainable development goals), lower than Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), Vedanta Ltd, JSW Energy and HDFC Bank have planned to go carbon neutral in the next few decades. Good ESG scores are helping companies tap into newer pools of capital and build valuations to attract investors in these reorganised entities, while enhancing shareholder value. Vedanta is restructuring its operations and may demerge and list its aluminium, iron and steel, and oil and gas businesses as standalone entities. Restructuring a mammoth like RIL means transferring its gasification assets to a wholly owned unit, which will help it produce hydrogen to establish a hydrogen ecosystem while JSW Energy is housing its green energy business in a new wholly owned unit, JSW Neo Energy Ltd, as it continues to keep the thermal business as part of the main company. The green business is expected to contribute more than 62 per cent of JSW’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation. Despite my assessment that the war would be a short and swift strike-and-occupy kind of exercise, it has turned out to be a twister and is now propelling the pains of supply disruptions, ballooning inflation to astronomical levels. All margins are under pressure. Companies are sitting with orders but their inability to supply products owing to critical part shortages is causing them to bleed. Fortunately, the building and construction industry is not facing these issues although inflation caused by cement, steel and bitumen has hit margins and time schedules. Holcim, the owner of companies like ACC, Ambuja and Lafarge among cement brands, is India’s second largest producer of cement with a combined capacity of 45 million tonne, excluding LaFarge which has a capacity of 8 million tonne. Sweden, where Holcim is based, has the highest carbon tax rate worldwide at $ 137 per metric tonne of CO2 equivalent. Holcim has decided to exit the Indian cement business and put it on the block. Adani and JSW groups are the frontrunners for this deal. Holcim’s move may be in line with its goals to reduce its carbon footprint to net zero. It has even joined the Science-Based Targets initiative detailing its net-zero pathway to 2050. Holcim would be a torchbearer in ESG within the building material industry. On the eve of the 7th anniversary of the Smart Cities Mission, I feel the seeds to save the planet have been sown by turning the imperative into a commercially beneficial movement. After BRSR, the Government may push for a carbon tax in India too. It is quite likely that in the years ahead, if you are not green you would pay more – and if you are green, you would be more valuable. Also Read: JSW Group are the frontrunners Holcim has decided to exit the Indian cement business Adani Good ESG scores are helping companies tap into newer pools of capital and build valuations to attract investors in these reorganised entities, while enhancing shareholder value

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Technology

We’re building robots that flow, not just move

Founded in 2021, Flo Mobility is reimagining construction automation with vision-AI robots designed for seamless movement through complex sites. In conversation with CW, Manesh Jain, Founder & CEO, discusses the company’s origin, its LiDAR-free tech stack, and expansion plans in the Middle East and US.What inspired the name Flo Mobility? Why ‘Flo’ and not ‘Flow’?When we started the company in 2021, our focus was on building autonomous navigation systems for robots. Since our work centred around robot movement, ‘mobility’ naturally became part of the name. We wanted to co..

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Real Estate

We’re committed to setting benchmarks in sustainable luxury living

From a landmark land acquisition in Boisar to ambitious launches across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), National Capital Region (NCR), Bengaluru and Pune, Birla Estates is driving future-ready growth with a strong focus on sustainability, partnerships and premium living, firmly anchored in its LifeDesigned® philosophy. K T Jithendran, Managing Director & CEO, outlines the company’s premium, sustainable growth playbook in conversation with PRATAP PADODE, Editor-in-Chief, CW. Excerpts:Birla Estates recently acquired a 70.92-acre land parcel in Boisar, Maharashtra, for..

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Infrastructure Urban

Mumbai’s land crunch and ageing homes call for structured renewal

Founded in 2022, Etonhurst Capital Partners is a real-estate fund management platform focused on the Indian market. As the firm achieves the first close of Rs 1.8 billion for its debut Rs 5 billion fund, Bamasish Paul, Co-founder, Managing Partner & CEO, discusses its sharp focus on redevelopment-driven value creation in Mumbai’s urban core with CW. Excerpts:Etonhurst Capital has achieved a significant milestone with the first close of Rs 1.8 billion for its Rs 5 billion fund. What factors contributed to this early success and how do you plan to attract further investments to r..

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