Examining the Effectiveness of National Voluntary Guidelines (NVG) in Enhancing Sustainability Reporting Practices in Selected Indian Banks

Abstract

Purpose – The study highlights the core elements of National voluntary guidelines (NVG) and examines the sustainability reporting practices undertaken by select Indian banks.The top ten public banks of India have been intensively investigated in the current research by implementing the content analysis based on secondary data and is categorized as descriptive and causal research.The study focuses on analyzing the sustainability reporting practices adopted by the selected Indian public banks and the elements of sustainability disclosures that are a part of descriptive research. The analysis shows several implications for bankers and policymakers as it provides a broad picture of the sustainability practices of the selected Indian public banks. The banks low on NVG reporting principles need to expand their strategies such as on Involuntary labor, operating regions, etc. Principle 7 of NVG was the least reported principle by banks as a large number of banks do not disclose information about public policy.The small size of the sample imply limited generalization. The study suggests that banks should adopt wide core elements of NVG to transform the landscape of sustainability practices. The higher participation by the banking sector helps in achieving high levels of reporting of core elements. By focusing on sustainability reporting according to NVG, which has not yet been investigated, the present study reveals many new elements concerning the NVG framework.