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Governance tool 4.1 · Ethics & speak-up

Whistle Sentinel

Every voice, safely heard.Every concern, accountably resolved.

A managed speak-up helpline and case-management platform that helps organisations in any sector receive, investigate and resolve concerns with integrity, run by BDI or by your own team.

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3core channels: web, toll-free voice and email, plus mobile and QR

10+Indian and global languages for every workforce

3privacy levels, chosen by the reporter

24x7availability, with monitored uptime

Why it matters

Misconduct stays hidden when people have no safe way to speak.

Tips remain the most common way fraud is detected, three times more often than the next method. Whistle Sentinel gives employees, contractors, suppliers and other stakeholders a trusted route to raise concerns about fraud, bribery, harassment, data misuse, safety lapses or conflicts of interest, and turns every report into a secure, traceable case.

43%

of occupational frauds are detected through tips, three times the next method (ACFE, Occupational Fraud 2024).

12 months

is the median time a fraud runs before anyone detects it (ACFE, 2024).

Companies Act s.177

requires listed companies and specified classes of companies to establish a vigil mechanism for directors and employees.

How it works

Every concern follows a documented path from first report to resolution

01Speak upThe reporter raises a concern through any channel, in their own language.
02AcknowledgeA unique case ID opens a secure, anonymous two-way dialogue.
03TriageAI-assisted categorisation routes the case to the right committee.
04InvestigateRole-based access, evidence logs and SLA tracking keep the inquiry on record.
05Resolve and learnClosure, reporter feedback and dashboards inform leadership and the board.

This is a summary of the platform. For a deeper understanding of how it would work for your organisation, please reach out to us.

Talk to a BDI partner

The reporter decides

Three privacy levels. One standard of protection.

Anonymous

Identity is never captured. Follow-up runs through the case ID and a secure inbox.

Identity visible to no one

Confidential

The reporter is known only to the designated case handler, never to the wider organisation.

Visible to the case handler only

Open

The reporter chooses to be named, which speeds fact-finding and follow-up.

Visible to the investigation team

One platform, three routes

Ethics, POSH and questions follow deliberately different paths.

Route	Scope	Handled by	Privacy	Timeline	Outcome
Ethics & compliance	Fraud, misconduct and policy breaches	triaged to an assigned investigator	anonymous or confidential	per-severity SLA	investigation, findings and corrective action.
POSH	Sexual-harassment complaints under the POSH Act, 2013	direct to the Internal Committee	identity restricted to the IC	inquiry within 90 days, action within 60 days	Internal Committee report and action under the POSH Act.
Ask a question	Guidance on dilemmas and policy questions	ethics advisor or helpdesk	anonymous allowed	same day to a few days	logged for trend analysis, converts to a report if needed.

Case management tiers

Capability that grows with your programme.

Tier 01

Basic

A secure reporting channel with case ID and anonymous follow-up.

Tier 02

Amateur

Case intake, manual routing, single language and basic SLA visibility.

Tier 03

Advanced

Workflow automation, 10+ languages, SLA tracking, role-based access and analytics dashboards.

Tier 04

AI Advanced

AI triage and routing, predictive analytics, automatic SLA escalation and a real-time compliance view.

Delivery models

Run by BDI, or by your own compliance team.

Recommended

Managed services

BDI operates the full platform on your behalf: administration and configuration, intake monitoring and triage support, SLA and escalation management, investigator coordination and reporting, and a dedicated BDI relationship manager.

Self-managed

Your team administers the platform: portal configuration, case assignment, workflows, privacy settings and user roles, with BDI onboarding, training and helpdesk support.

Investigation support

Outsourced end to end, co-sourced alongside your compliance or HR team, or engaged case by case for complex or sensitive matters.

Managed by BDI

More than software: a speak-up programme BDI runs with you.

Helpline launch

Stakeholder briefings, internal communications and go-live readiness.

Sensitisation workshops

Sessions for employees, managers and leaders on speak-up rights and reporter protection.

Ethics programme support

Policy alignment, tone from the top, culture diagnostics and an annual refresh.

Culture collateral

Posters, wallet cards, standees, and laptop and QR stickers, designed at no extra cost.

Dynamic dashboard

A self-managed view of case volumes, SLAs and trends.

Programme certification

BDI certifies your helpline programme after rollout.

Who it serves

Built for every team that owns the risk.

Listed companies

A vigil mechanism under Companies Act s.177 and SEBI LODR, with audit committee reporting.

Family-owned enterprises

A confidential route that reaches promoters without passing through line management.

Financial services

Speak-up and conduct reporting aligned with regulator expectations.

Manufacturing and plants

Toll-free voice and QR posters for shop-floor, depot and contractor workforces.

Healthcare and pharma

Channels for HCP-interaction, UCPMP and data-integrity concerns.

Technology, public bodies and not-for-profits

Configurable categories, policies and workflows for your governance model.

Security & trust

Built to the standard your auditors expect.

Two-factor authentication on every login
End-to-end encryption in transit and at rest
AWS hosting with 24x7 uptime monitoring
Aligned with DPDP (India), GDPR and EU GDPR
Independent penetration testing
Insured platform: INR 1 Cr cyber, D&O and general liability cover

Rollout

From kick-off to steady state.

1
Discover
Stakeholder interviews, scope, jurisdiction and policy baseline.
2
Configure
Platform set-up, channels, privacy levels and branding.
3
Validate
User acceptance testing, SLA tests, language checks and security review.
4
Launch
Go-live, communications rollout, QR and poster distribution.
5
Sensitise
Workshops, training sessions and culture activation.
6
Operate
Managed intake, triage, investigation support and SLA monitoring.
7
Review
Quarterly analytics, governance reporting and policy refresh.

Connected services

Whistle Sentinel is one part of a complete BDI service.

A speak-up channel is only as good as what happens after a report lands. BDI connects Whistle Sentinel to its investigators, the Academy and the board reporting your regulators expect.

01Investigation and advisory services

Fraud and forensic investigations
Reports of fraud, kickbacks or misconduct investigated end to end, co-sourced or case by case.
Forensic, Integrity & Corporate Intelligence
Digital forensics and eDiscovery
Devices, e-mail and chats preserved and reviewed in BDI's in-house lab when a report needs evidence.
Forensic, Integrity & Corporate Intelligence
Forensic accounting and audit
Losses behind a substantiated report quantified for recovery, insurance or disciplinary action.
Forensic, Integrity & Corporate Intelligence
POSH and workplace conduct
POSH complaints routed to your Internal Committee, with independent inquiry support when needed.
Risk, Compliance & Regulatory
Anti-bribery and anti-corruption
Bribery reports feed the testing of your ABAC programme and its controls.
Risk, Compliance & Regulatory

02Brand Defence Academy learning

Conflicts of Interest
The most common category of speak-up report.
Anti-Bribery & Anti-Corruption
Helps employees recognise what to report.
POSH Training
Explains the POSH route and the Internal Committee.
UPSI / Insider Trading
Covers reporting leaks of unpublished price-sensitive information.

03Trainings and workshops

Speak-up sensitisation
Sessions for employees, managers and leaders on how to raise a concern and how reporters are protected.
Case-handler and investigator training
Triage, interviews, evidence handling and report writing for your ethics committee and investigators.
Internal Committee training
Conducting POSH inquiries within the statutory timelines.
Audit committee briefing
What the committee should see about the vigil mechanism, and how to read the dashboard.

Plan a workshop

04 · Regulatory insights

The law Whistle Sentinel helps you meet.

The provisions most often in play, what each requires and where the platform helps. This is a summary for orientation, not legal advice: check the current text, and the version that applies to you.

Law	Provision	What it requires	How Whistle Sentinel helps
Companies Act, 2013	s.177(9)–(10); Rule 7, Companies (Meetings of Board and its Powers) Rules, 2014	Listed companies, and companies that accept public deposits or have borrowed over ₹50 crore from banks and public financial institutions, must run a vigil mechanism with safeguards against victimisation and direct access to the audit committee chair, and disclose it on their website and in the Board's report.	Multi-channel, multilingual intake with anonymity, audit committee routing and reports.
SEBI LODR, 2015	Reg. 4(2)(d)(iv) and Reg. 22	A listed entity must have a whistle-blower mechanism for directors, employees and other stakeholders, with protection against victimisation and direct access to the audit committee chair.	Channels open to employees, suppliers and other stakeholders; restricted escalation to the chair.
SEBI LODR, 2015	Reg. 18(3) with Schedule II Part C; Reg. 46(2)(e)	The audit committee reviews how the whistle-blower mechanism functions, and the policy is published on the website.	Dashboards for case volumes, ageing and outcomes, ready for audit committee review.
SEBI (Prohibition of Insider Trading) Regulations, 2015	Reg. 9A(6)	Listed companies must have a whistle-blower policy that lets employees report leaks of unpublished price-sensitive information.	A dedicated UPSI-leak category routed to the compliance officer.
Companies (Auditor's Report) Order, 2020	Clause 3(xi)(c)	The statutory auditor reports whether it has considered whistle-blower complaints received during the year.	A complete, time-stamped record of every complaint and its outcome for the auditor.
POSH Act, 2013	ss. 4, 11, 13 and 21–22	An Internal Committee; inquiries completed within 90 days; action on its recommendations within 60 days; annual reporting.	A separate POSH route to the Internal Committee, with timeline tracking.
DPDP Act, 2023	s.8(5)	Reasonable security safeguards to prevent a personal data breach.	Two-factor login, encryption and role-based access to reporter and case data.

05 · Managed services

Let BDI run it for you.

Run Whistle Sentinel yourself, or let a BDI team operate it under agreed service levels.

Intake and triage by BDI

BDI monitors every channel, acknowledges reports, categorises them and routes each case to the right committee within agreed timelines.

Investigation on demand

Outsourced end to end, co-sourced with your team, or case by case for complex or sensitive matters.

SLA and escalation management

Ageing cases chased and escalated before they breach your policy timelines.

Audit committee reporting

Quarterly analytics and trends, ready for the committee and the auditor.

FAQs

Questions buyers ask us.

Can a reporter stay anonymous and still answer follow-up questions?

Yes. Every report receives a unique case ID and a secure inbox, so investigators can ask questions and the reporter can reply without their identity ever being captured.

Which languages does the toll-free helpline support?

English, Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Punjabi and additional regional languages, ten or more in total.

How are POSH complaints handled?

They follow a separate route directly to your Internal Committee, with identity restricted to the IC and timelines aligned with the POSH Act, 2013.

Who can see the case data?

Only users you authorise, through role-based access protected by two-factor authentication. Every action is logged in the case's audit trail.

Can BDI investigate the cases?

Yes. BDI can investigate end to end, co-source with your internal team, or support case by case on complex or sensitive matters.