Inbrief

Standard & Poor’s is to develop the first dedicated SRI index of emerging market companies. Together with its Indian affiliate CRISIL and the US-based independent research firm KLD Research & Analytics, the financial analysis and ratings agency will build an index of Indian companies that meet social and environmental criteria and market this to investors. Rachel Kyte, a director at the International Finance Corporation, which is providing financial support for the consortium, said the intention was to ‘break the chicken and egg situation’ in which investors with SRI mandates ‘will not invest in investing markets for lack of information, and research providers will not enter the market for lack of demand’.