VMPL
Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], September 5: Aspire Circle and Aspire Impact have launched “Fast Moving Consumer Goods: An ESG Performance Framework,” a new research publication under the Impact Future Project (IFP), a thought-leadership initiative supported by Capgemini. The publication brings together 19 senior ESG, sustainability and business leaders to develop a sector-specific approach to measuring ESG performance and assessing ESG risks and opportunities.
India’s FMCG sector generated USD 245.4 billion in revenue in 2024 and is projected to reach USD 615.9 billion by FY2027, touching more than 1.4 billion consumers. The framework moves beyond a single blended ESG score by assessing ESG Risk and ESG Opportunity separately, providing companies, investors and other stakeholders a clearer view of vulnerabilities and potential for sustainable value creation.
The framework combines sector-agnostic KPIs with FMCG-specific indicators across Personal Care, Household, Food Products and Diversified FMCG. The assessment covers Environment, Social and Governance issues including emissions, energy, water, packaging, product lifecycle, responsible sourcing, employee health and safety, customer impact, governance and ethical conduct.
Key ESG risk areas include packaging waste, water stress, energy-intensive manufacturing, supply chain traceability, sustainable sourcing, product quality and safety, responsible marketing and natural resource stewardship. Opportunities include circular packaging, renewable energy, refill and reuse models, ethical sourcing and regenerative agriculture. The essence of the framework is that clearer identification of material ESG risks, combined with measurable opportunities, can help FMCG companies build consumer trust and brand equity, anticipate regulatory and market shifts, and drive innovation and responsible growth, ultimately contributing to stronger long-term business performance and stakeholder outcomes.
The framework integrates Risk and Opportunity assessments through a 2x2 Risk–Opportunity quadrant. The framework integrates Risk and Opportunity assessments through a 2×2 Risk–Opportunity quadrant, where the respective scores position a company within the quadrant and provide a clear view of its current ESG risk–opportunity profile and direction of travel. This goes beyond a single embedded score by showing where a company stands, where it should aim to move, and whether progress is being driven by reducing risk, strengthening opportunities, or both.
Amit Bhatia, Founder, Aspire Circle and Aspire Impact, said, “India’s USD 245 billion FMCG sector reaches over a billion consumers every day, giving it a unique ability to turn everyday choices into large-scale climate and social impact. Our ESG framework, with separate Risk & Opportunity ratings and both sector-agnostic and sector-specific KPIs, lets FMCG companies benchmark themselves against peers and translate ESG intent into measurable, comparable action.”
Prabha Narasimhan, Managing Director & CEO, Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited, said, “As the FMCG sector touches billions of lives every day, we have a unique opportunity and responsibility to make sustainable choices more accessible and impactful. At Colgate-Palmolive India, our experience of embedding ESG across our products, operations and communities has shown us the value of clear, measurable goals and collective action. Through our 2030 SMILE Strategy, we are advancing climate action, circularity, oral health and community impact.”
The publication is the latest in IFP’s planned series of 12 sector-specific ESG performance frameworks, following frameworks covering industry-agnostic ESG KPIs, Financial Services, Healthcare, Information Technology and Utilities. The Working Group members for the FMCG publication included Amit Saha, Founder & CEO, Pro India, Ex Chief Sustainability Officer, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages; Dr. Ankur Chaturvedi, Assistant Vice President Operations & ESG Lead, Emami; Burzin Dubash, Chief Operating Officer & Chief Financial Officer, Ankur Capital; Dipanwita Chakraborty, Founder Advisory at Visible Growth Inflection Points; Former Regional Director – Corporate Responsibility & Sustainable Development, Asia Pacific, Cargill; Gagandeep Singh Sethi, Senior Vice President, Integrated Operations, Sustainability & Responsibility, Pernod Ricard India; Gayatri Divecha, Senior Advisor, Gayatri Divecha Consulting; Former Head, Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility, Godrej Group; Kanika Pal, ISB-BIPP Visiting Fellow; Milind Datar, VP Manufacturing and EHSS, Tilak Nagar Industries; Nehit Vasavada, Deputy General Manager, Operations Management and Food Safety Management Systems, Amulfed Dairy; Prachi Singh, Senior Vice President, INI Farms; Saloni Malhotra, CEO, Aspire Impact Assurance; Former CEO, MIPL; Sanskriti Kapoor, Vice President, ESG & Impact, Omnivore; Shilpashree Muniswamappa, Director, ESG & Communications, Colgate-Palmolive (India); Sreemoyee C. Bhattacharyya, Lead, Sustainability, Marico; Srinidhi S. Rao, Head Sustainability, Diageo India; Tannya Garg, Director, Impact, Partnerships & New Initiatives, FarMart; and Dr. Taruna Saxena, Former Director Sustainability & Societal Initiatives (ManCom member), Nestlé.
Capgemini continues its association with the Impact Future Project. Anurag Pratap, VP & CSR Leader, India, Capgemini, said, “We believe the time has come to mainstream the principles of an Impact Economy. The Impact Future Project is playing a significant role in accelerating this vision by fostering greater awareness, encouraging collaboration, and bringing together diverse stakeholders to drive meaningful action towards a more sustainable and inclusive future.”
The framework is also supported by IKOO World, Aspire Impact’s digital platform for ESG, Sustainability and Impact Assessments and benchmarking, with data for more than 750 organisations.
Harpreet Kaur, Chief Knowledge Officer, Aspire Impact, said, “The publication ultimately seeks to make ESG measurement more useful for companies, investors, regulators and other stakeholders by combining a common set of industry-agnostic indicators with FMCG-specific KPIs, separating ESG Risks from ESG Opportunities, and moving ESG assessment beyond broad sustainability claims towards more measurable, comparable and actionable insights.”
About Aspire Circle
Aspire Circle promotes enlightened social leadership through scholarships, fellowships, internships and the Impact Future Project’s thought leadership. Founded in 2007, Aspire Circle has awarded 34 scholarships, admitted 400+ Fellows, trained 64 interns and engaged 400+ IFP leaders across its research publications.
About Aspire Impact
Aspire Impact is Global South’s first standards-based Impact Measurement, Rating & Certification initiative in India and Colombia. Its 4P (Product, People, Planet & Policy) Impact Assessment Framework assesses Corporations, Financial Institutions, Educational Institutions, CSR/Non-Profits and Governments using 40 India Inc.-endorsed Impact Standards and ~150 Key Performance Indicators. Since April 2020, Aspire Impact has served 60+ clients across 200+ projects. Its SaaS platform, IKOO World, has 250,000+ comparable benchmarking data points for 750+ organisations. Aspire Impact has also raised seed investment from Hong Kong-based Parinama Group and is registered with ICMAI under SEBI regulations for Social Impact Assessors.
About the Impact Future Project
The Impact Future Project (IFP) is a thought-leadership platform for the emerging Impact Economy. It develops standards-based ESG, Sustainability & Impact measurement frameworks, enables comparison of impact performance and advocates for an Impact Economy through research, policy recommendations and advocacy. IFP has completed 20 publications, with 400+ CXOs as co-authors, generating more than one million impressions.
About Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited
Colgate-Palmolive (India) Limited is a subsidiary of Colgate-Palmolive Company, a leading consumer products company with a presence in Oral Care, Personal Care, Home Care and Pet Nutrition. In India, Colgate-Palmolive is the market leader in Oral Care, manufacturing and marketing products under the Colgate and Palmolive brands.
About Capgemini
Capgemini is a global leader in partnering with companies to transform and manage their business through technology. It is guided by its purpose of unleashing human energy through technology for an inclusive and sustainable future, with 340,000 team members in nearly 50 countries.
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