ESG in transition: A text mining analysis of how Indian corporations evolved from checkbox reporting to strategic integration

This study analyzes sustainability reports of 269 NIFTY 500 firms from FY2015 to FY2023 using text mining to track the evolution of corporate ESG reporting in India. The study employed Orange software to process and analyze textual data, generating word clouds and frequency analyses to identify temporal patterns. The analysis reveals three distinct phases: initial establishment (2015-17), governance consolidation (2018-20), and balanced integration (2021-23). Governance terms consistently dominated across all periods, with “business” and “profit” being most frequent. Social reporting centered on employee welfare, while environmental terms, particularly “energy,” showed steady growth. The findings demonstrate that Indian corporations have shifted from compliance-driven disclosure to strategic ESG integration, with implications for regulatory frameworks and investment decisions.