BRSR Value Chain Verification — for SME suppliers to Top 1,000 listed entities
Limited assurance for the BRSR value-chain disclosures your listed-entity customer needs from you. Coordinated end-to-end by BatchWise, signed by an ICAI-registered partner CA firm. ₹50,000, 72 hours.
What this is for
If your customer is a Top 1,000 listed entity in India, you have probably received a request — or are about to — for sustainability and governance data on your operations. That request is driven by SEBI's BRSR value-chain disclosure rules, which require the listed entity to report on the upstream and downstream partners that individually account for 2% or more of their purchases or sales by value.
Your customer needs your data to complete their BRSR. From FY 2024-25 onwards, the value-chain disclosures are themselves subject to independent limited assurance under SEBI's phased BRSR Core regime. Your customer's auditor will ask you for a verified data set — not just a self-declaration on a spreadsheet.
BRSR Value Chain Verification is the limited assurance engagement that produces that verified data set. It is signed by an ICAI-registered partner CA firm and accepted by your customer's BRSR Core assurance provider as a verifiable input.
Who this is for
- SME or mid-market suppliers (anyone — manufacturer, distributor, service provider, logistics partner) where you individually represent 2% or more of a Top 1,000 listed customer's purchases or sales
- Group company suppliers where the parent is supplying to a listed customer through one or more SPV / subsidiary
- Newly-onboarded suppliers to a Top 1,000 listed entity who are being asked for BRSR data as part of vendor onboarding rather than annual refresh
- Suppliers being asked by multiple listed customers — a single Verification can be shared with all customers asking the same year
What "limited assurance" means (and how it differs from BRSR Core)
The Top 1,000 listed entity itself files reasonable assurance (highest level) over its own BRSR Core attributes. Value-chain data feeding into that filing is subject to limited assurance, which is one rung lower in the assurance hierarchy.
| Limited assurance (Value Chain) | Reasonable assurance (BRSR Core) | |
|---|---|---|
| Form of opinion | Negative-form: "Nothing has come to our attention…" | Positive-form: "In our opinion, the values are fairly stated…" |
| Procedures | Inquiry, analytical review, sample testing | Inquiry + analytical + recalculation + vouching + substantive sample testing |
| Materiality threshold | Same as reasonable, but procedures don't have to reduce risk to as low | |
| Cost | Lower — typically 50–60% of reasonable | Higher |
| When required | Value-chain partners ≥ 2% threshold | Top 1,000 listed entity itself |
For most SME suppliers, limited assurance is the right level — it satisfies your customer's BRSR Core requirements without the cost burden of full reasonable assurance.
How BatchWise coordinates the engagement
BatchWise itself is not a Chartered Accountancy firm. We do not sign assurance reports. Every signed Value Chain Verification is issued by an ICAI-registered partner CA firm that BatchWise assigns to your engagement.
What BatchWise does:
- Runs the document workspace where you upload operational artefacts (utility bills, payroll records, manufacturing logs, fuel registers)
- Maintains the published methodology the partner firm follows
- Picks the right partner CA firm for your engagement (industry, capacity, independence relative to your statutory auditor if any)
- Coordinates the 72-hour SLA from upload to signed verification certificate
- Hosts the final certificate and workpaper index in your account
What the assigned partner CA firm does:
- Performs the limited-assurance procedures over the value-chain data points your customer has requested
- Signs the verification certificate under the firm's Certificate of Practice and DSC
- Retains workpapers per ICAI's documentation requirements
What gets verified
The exact value-chain data points depend on what your listed customer has asked for. The most common request set:
- Scope 1 + 2 GHG emissions for the supplier's operations attributable to the customer's purchases (i.e., your emissions × % of your output sold to that customer)
- Energy consumption for the same scope — total + renewable share
- Water withdrawal for the same scope
- Waste generated and the % recycled / reused
- Workforce composition — total employees, gender split, contractor vs permanent
- Health and safety incidents — work-related injuries, LTI rate
- Anti-corruption policy confirmation and POSH compliance status
For larger suppliers with more comprehensive ESG programs, the verification can extend to additional NGRBC-aligned data points. The engagement letter confirms the exact in-scope data points before work begins.
The 72-hour engagement flow
- Onboarding (Day 0). You upload utility bills, payroll registers, EHS incident logs, and any policy documents. BatchWise confirms completeness against the Document Evidence Requirements tailored to your customer's data request
- Mapping & extraction (Day 0–1). Operational data points are mapped to the BRSR value-chain format the listed customer needs. Any items requiring entity-specific judgement are flagged for your finance / operations lead
- Limited assurance procedures (Day 1–2). Partner CA firm performs the limited-assurance procedures — inquiry, analytical review, sample-test of source documents
- Certificate drafting & internal review (Day 2–3). Draft verification certificate is prepared. Any flagged items are discussed before signing
- Signature & delivery (Day 3). Partner firm signs the verification certificate under DSC. The certificate plus a workpaper index plus the structured data set ready for your customer's BRSR XBRL filing are delivered to your dashboard
End-to-end: 72 hours from complete upload to signed certificate.
Deliverables
| Deliverable | Format | Issued by |
|---|---|---|
| Verification Certificate | PDF (DSC-signed) | Assigned partner CA firm |
| Verified Data Set | Excel + structured XML | BatchWise (compiled), signed off by partner firm |
| Workpaper Index | Partner firm | |
| Letter of Representation template | DOCX | BatchWise (you sign + send to partner firm) |
| Methodology Note | BatchWise |
The verified data set in Excel/XML is the artefact your listed customer can directly ingest into their own BRSR Core assurance and XBRL filing. We've designed the structure to match the SEBI BRSR value-chain disclosure tables exactly.
Pricing
₹50,000 per Value Chain Verification engagement (single supplier entity, single financial year, one set of customer-requested data points). Exclusive of GST.
If multiple Top 1,000 listed customers are asking you for verified data in the same financial year, a single Verification can satisfy all of them — the verified data set is shareable across customers without requiring repeat engagements (provided their requested data points overlap, which they typically do).
If your customer's request goes substantially beyond the standard set, we'll quote the additional scope before starting.
Related reading
Frequently asked questions
My customer is asking me for BRSR data but hasn’t said anything about assurance. Do I still need this?
If your customer’s BRSR Core deadline is FY 2024-25 or later (Phase 2 onwards) and you’re at the 2% threshold, their assurance provider will need verified data eventually — even if your customer hasn’t yet escalated the ask to "verified". Many suppliers do voluntary verification proactively because it pre-empts the back-and-forth and signals supplier-quality maturity.
We supply to multiple Top 1,000 customers. Can we share one Verification?
Yes — that’s the typical use case. The verified data set is structured to be shareable across customers within the same financial year, provided the requested data points overlap (which they almost always do because they’re all driven by the same SEBI BRSR format). One ₹50,000 engagement, multiple customer relationships served.
What if our internal data quality isn’t great?
That’s normal for first-year value-chain verifications. The partner CA firm flags data-quality issues during the engagement and you have the option to (a) supply additional documentation, (b) accept a qualified verification, or (c) pause the engagement and remediate. We work the issues with you before signing — there are no surprise qualifications.
Are we required to use the same assurance firm as our listed customer?
No. The customer’s BRSR Core assurance provider is selected by the customer; the value-chain verification provider is selected by the supplier (you). Independence between the two providers is actually preferable from a regulatory standpoint — your customer’s auditor wants to be able to rely on a separately-issued verification rather than verify your data themselves.
Can the same partner CA firm verify multiple of our financial years?
Yes, and continuity is often beneficial — the partner firm carries forward the methodology and prior-year benchmarks, which speeds subsequent engagements. BatchWise’s default is to assign the same partner firm year-on-year unless capacity or independence considerations require a change.