BSCI vs SEDEX vs WRAP: Which Audit Do Indian Suppliers Actually Carry?
Side-by-side breakdown of the three social audits Indian apparel exporters typically hold — what they verify, who demands them, and what each costs in India.
If your supplier is in India, expect them to hold one of three social-compliance audits — sometimes two, occasionally all three. Knowing which audit your buyer actually requires saves you from forcing duplicate spend or, worse, accepting a certificate that does not satisfy your retail customer.
The three Indian buyers really see
| Audit | Driven by | India coverage |
|---|---|---|
| amfori BSCI | European retailers (especially DACH region) | Very wide; cheap to renew |
| SEDEX-SMETA | UK retailers (M&S, Tesco, Sainsbury's) | Wide; favoured by Tirupur clusters |
| WRAP | US retailers (Walmart, Target, JCPenney) | Concentrated in NCR/Gurgaon |
BSCI — what it covers and where Indian factories sit
amfori BSCI audits against 13 principles (no child labour, freedom of association, fair remuneration, etc.). Indian factories typically score B or C on first audit, then push to A through corrective-action plans. BSCI is the cheapest to renew (~₹60 000 – 90 000 every 24 months).
SEDEX-SMETA — the buyer-shareable favourite
SMETA's strength is sharing: one audit feeds dozens of buyers via the SEDEX platform. Indian Tirupur knitters lean SMETA because UK retail buys disproportionately from there. The 4-pillar SMETA (labour, health & safety, environment, business ethics) is what most premium UK and EU buyers ask for.
WRAP — the US gateway
WRAP is the standard US apparel-import retailers expect. WRAP-Gold (the highest tier) requires zero major non-conformities. Indian Gurgaon and Noida factories serving Walmart and Target almost universally hold WRAP — it is effectively a ticket of admission to US big-box retail.
The Indian-specific overlap
Most credible Indian export units around Gurgaon and Tirupur carry at least two of these three. A factory holding only one is acceptable for that audit's home market but limits your downstream resale options. At The Attire we maintain BSCI + SMETA, with WRAP added on demand for US programmes.
What costs do Indian factories absorb?
- BSCI: ~₹60 000 – 90 000 every 2 years (~$750 – $1 100)
- SMETA 4-pillar: ~₹1.2 – 1.8 lakh per audit (~$1 500 – $2 200)
- WRAP: ~₹2 – 3 lakh including remediation (~$2 500 – $3 600)
Plus the corrective action investments — fire safety upgrades, wage-record systems, grievance committees — that often run far higher than the audit fee itself.
Which one should you ask your Indian supplier for?
Ask the question backwards: which audit will satisfy my retail customer? If you sell to UK retail, demand SMETA. If US big-box, demand WRAP. If pan-European, BSCI is usually enough. If you sell to all three markets, accept any factory carrying any two of the three — duplicate audits are wasted spend.
Want our current BSCI / SMETA scorecards? Send us a request and we'll share our most recent reports under NDA.