Greenwashing Perception and Its Impact on Sustainable Investment Decision-Making Among Retail Investors in Maharashtra: A Post-BRSR Analysis

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Provides a framework linking greenwashing perception to investment behavior, useful for studying disclosure effectiveness.

🏢実務担当者:Highlights the need for clear, localized ESG communication to build retail investor trust.

🏛政策担当者:Emphasizes the importance of assurance and literacy programs for effective disclosure regimes.

India's retail participation in ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) mutual funds remains far below its market potential. Despite a near-fourfold growth in ESG mutual fund assets under management from Rs. 2,703 crore in 2019 to Rs. 10,946 crore by 2024, and the introduction of SEBI's mandatory Business Responsibility and Sustainability Reporting (BRSR) framework from FY 2022-23, ordinary investors continue to hold back. This paper investigates whether greenwashing perception, the fear that sustainability claims made by companies or funds are exaggerated or false, acts as a psychological barrier to retail ESG investment among retail investors in Maharashtra, and whether awareness of the BRSR framework moderates that fear. The study focuses on Maharashtra's retail investor population, particularly semi-urban districts such as Satara, Kolhapur, Nashik, and Sangli, where ESG literacy and BRSR awareness are effectively absent despite growing market participation. The research adopts a descriptive-analytical design grounded entirely in secondary data, synthesising peer-reviewed academic literature, SEBI regulatory documents, AMFI market data, and credible industry reports. No primary data was collected. The analysis proceeds through regulatory mapping, structured literature synthesis, and contextual interpretation applied to Maharashtra's investor profile. Greenwashing perception reduces ESG investment intention through both rational and emotional pathways. BRSR, while a genuine regulatory achievement, has not reached semi-urban retail investors as a visible or credible trust signal. Semi-urban Maharashtra investors represent the highest vulnerability to greenwashing-driven deterrence and simultaneously the highest potential for ESG fund adoption. The incomplete rollout of BRSR Core assurance sustains the information asymmetry that greenwashing perception exploits. The paper calls for accelerated BRSR Core assurance, simplified investor-facing ESG communication in Marathi, and targeted BRSR literacy programmes in Maharashtra's semi-urban districts as urgent policy priorities.

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