ABB India Limited has received a penalty order from the Karnataka tax authorities, imposing a fine of ₹32.07 lakh for alleged tax-related violations. The company disclosed this development to stock exchanges under regulatory compliance requirements on December 30, 2025.

Penalty Details and Authority

The penalty order was issued by the Deputy Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (LTU-3), Karnataka, under Section 73 of the CGST Tax Act, 2017. The following table summarizes the key details of the penalty:

Company's Response and Next Steps

ABB India has indicated its intention to challenge the penalty order through the appellate process. Based on the company's assessment, an appeal will be filed against the order. The company expressed confidence in achieving a favorable outcome at the appellate level.

The management has stated that it does not reasonably expect the penalty order to have any material impact on the company's financial, operational, or other activities. This assessment suggests that ABB India views the penalty as manageable within its current financial framework.

Regulatory Compliance and Disclosure

The disclosure was made under Regulation 30 of the SEBI (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2015. The company provided comprehensive details as required under Clause 20 of Para A of Part A of Schedule III of the listing regulations.

The communication was signed by Trivikram Guda, Company Secretary and Compliance Officer, and submitted to both BSE Limited and National Stock Exchange of India Limited. The disclosure ensures transparency with stakeholders regarding regulatory developments that could potentially impact the company.

Impact Assessment

While the penalty represents a regulatory challenge, ABB India's confident stance on appealing the order and its assessment of no material impact suggests the company believes it has strong grounds for challenging the tax authority's decision. The relatively modest size of the penalty compared to the company's scale of operations may also contribute to the limited expected impact on business activities.

ABB India Limited has received an ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) rating of 76 for FY2025 from NSE Sustainability Ratings & Analytics Ltd., as disclosed in a regulatory filing. The rating places the company in the 'Leader' category, reflecting strong ESG performance across multiple parameters.

ESG Rating Breakdown

The comprehensive ESG assessment evaluated ABB India across three key pillars, with the company demonstrating varied performance across different areas:

Environmental Performance Highlights

ABB India's Environment score of 80 was driven by several positive factors. The company's greenhouse gas emissions from direct operations and energy consumption remained below industry averages. Energy intensity of operations was below benchmarks with a 7.00% decrease compared to the previous year, while renewable energy usage surpassed industry averages. Water intensity performance showed improvement with a 13.00% decrease year-over-year.

However, some challenges were noted, including Scope 3 emissions being higher than standard practices despite a 16.00% decrease from the previous year, and waste intensity increasing by 30.00% compared to the previous year, though waste recycling and recovery rates remained high when compared with peers.

Social and Governance Assessment

The Social score of 73 reflected mixed performance across various parameters:

The Governance score of 75 was supported by strong board composition and committee structures. Key strengths included a stronger presence of independent directors than minimum regulatory requirements, fulfillment of women director requirements, and better-than-required independent director representation across various committees including Nomination and Remuneration, Audit, Risk Management, and CSR committees.

Core ESG Rating

In addition to the overall ESG rating, ABB India achieved a Core ESG Rating of 68 for FY2025, which focuses on third-party assured or audited data from BRSR Core disclosures:

Independent Assessment Clarification

ABB India clarified in its disclosure that the company did not engage NSE Sustainability Ratings & Analytics Ltd. for this rating assessment. The ESG report was independently prepared by the rating agency based on information available in the public domain, including annual reports, ESG reports, BRSR reports, company websites, news, and stock exchange filings.

The rating assessment employed a comprehensive methodology that considers materiality-based weightings, industry-specific benchmarks, and evaluation across five criteria: Performance, Compliance, Policy, Initiatives, and Best Practices. The rating scale ranges from 0 to 100, with companies categorized from 'Lagging' (bottom 5%) to 'Leader' (top 10%), making ABB India's 'Leader' classification a significant achievement in ESG performance.