CSRD for Indian Exporters: Requirements, Timeline and How to Prepare

CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) replaces the EU's Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD) and significantly expands the number of companies required to report on sustainability. Indian companies are not directly subject to CSRD unless they are large EU subsidiaries or listed on EU regulated markets. However, Indian exporters face CSRD pressure indirectly: EU companies in scope must collect sustainability data from their non-EU suppliers under ESRS value-chain requirements. Indian exporters to EU automotive, pharmaceutical, textile, and engineering buyers increasingly receive CSRD-aligned supplier questionnaires and must provide emissions, labor, and governance data.

• EU companies directly in scope under CSRD phased applicability (2024–2028)
• Indian subsidiaries of EU parent companies (if meeting size thresholds)
• Indian exporters supplying EU companies subject to CSRD value-chain data requests
• Indian companies with >€150 million net revenue in the EU (from 2028)

CSRD reporting covers sustainability across environmental, social, and governance dimensions using ESRS standards:

• Environment: Climate change, pollution, water and marine resources, biodiversity, resource use and circular economy
• Social: Own workforce, value-chain workers, affected communities, consumers and end-users
• Governance: Business conduct, corporate culture, anti-corruption, payment practices
• Value chain: Upstream and downstream suppliers, including non-EU suppliers such as Indian exporters

• EU buyers send CSRD-aligned supplier questionnaires with varying formats and deadlines
• Indian exporters lack standardized ESG data ready for EU customer requests
• Multiple EU customers may request overlapping but differently formatted data
• No internal system to track which EU buyer requires what data and by when
• Failure to respond can jeopardize EU contracts and export shipments

• CSRD disclosure package: Pre-built templates for responding to EU buyer CSRD and ESRS supplier requests
• Single data ingestion: Enter ESG data once; generate responses to multiple EU buyer questionnaires
• CBAM + ESRS bundle: Combined India-to-EU export compliance package covering carbon and sustainability reporting
• Real-time due diligence: Supplier screening and adverse media monitoring for export risk management
• One-click export: PDF and Excel formats for submission to EU buyers and chambers of commerce

1. Map EU customer requirements: Identify which EU buyers have sent CSRD or ESRS supplier questionnaires and their deadlines
2. Collect supplier ESG data: Gather emissions, labor, health and safety, and governance data across your operations
3. Align with ESRS: Map your data to ESRS categories relevant to your sector (e.g., climate change for manufacturing)
4. Generate responses: Use SustainableX to produce standardized CSRD-aligned responses for each EU buyer
5. Submit and track: Deliver responses before deadlines and maintain a record of all disclosures for future audits