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Issues and Challenges of Corporate Governance in India It is well over a decade that the concept of Corporate Governance has become a passion with industry analysts in India. It has long passed the stage of being a fashion statement that it was in the early 1990’s. In the aftermath of economic liberalization in the country on one hand, and the then newly published Cadbury report on the other, its ideals were propagated as the be-all and end-all of all corporate endeavour. All these got irretrievably inter-mixed to give the concept of Corporate Governance an aura and a halo. Now, after more than a decade and a half down the line, and with a lot of studies and in-depth research having been done by several committees and guidelines proposed by them, a reality check and analysis throw up a lot of somewhat unpalatable home truths. Indian industry has come a long way since 1991. There has been a phenomenal growth both in the quality and number of corporates in the country. Some of them are implanting their footprints abroad and some world-wide objective research has shown that our corporates, albeit small in number, are second to none in terms of corporate governance standards. Though the implementing of Corporate Governance in the Indian scenario is not as easy as it sounds, it is necessary to recognize that Corporate India has gone a long way and taken significant steps especially in the last one decade given its legacy. Moreover, prior experience on governance issues in the country has shown that none of the Corporate Governance principles can be cast in stone and laid to rest. There is an ongoing need for constant review and course corrections that would keep the country in the pink of health in terms of its corporate excellence by a judicious mix of legislation, regulation and suasion. This task needs to be constantly addressed with growing maturity and competitive compulsions. It should be possible to gradually reduce legislative interventions and increase regulatory compliance with and self-induced adherence to the best practices in this field. Till then, however, legislation and regulations to ensure at least certain minimum standards is inevitable. To facilitate such a graduation into better governance practices, globalization has opened up an array of opportunities to Corporate India to emerge successful in its new tryst with destiny. There are no soft options available and the Indian Corporate sector must necessarily turn to good governance in its pursuit of competitive excellence in a challenging business environment. There are already some corporates in our country which have taken up the cudgels and have been facing challenges in implementing corporate governance in their organizations. If the ennobling and worthy examples exhibited by these companies can be emulated and excelled by others in industry, it will take India Inc. still a long way. The objective of this session is to help people understand the various facets of corporate governance especially in the matter of implementing them, for though it is easy to conceptualise, it is also just as easy to overlook the assiduous efforts that are required to overcome the challenges and be successful in the area of good governance. This session aims to throw light on the ground realities surrounding the subject and to further the discussion on “Issues and Challenges of Corporate Governance in India.” |