Corporate Governance Standards Improve in India

According to a joint study by the International Finance Corporation, the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), and Institutional Investor Advisory Services India (IiAS), the Corporate Governance Scorecard for 2017 showed that companies are increasing transparency.

Increased scrutiny by regulators such as India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, and the Securities and Exchange Board of India, coupled with increased vigilance by minority and institutional shareholders have led Indian companies to improve their corporate governance standards.

The study suggests that:

• More than 90 percent of the Sensex 30 companies have provided adequate disclosures and inducted more women directors.
• The number of Sensex 30 companies that provided detailed minutes of annual general meetings, disclosures on succession planning, and facilitated shareholder participation doubled in the last year.
• The BSE 100 companies have improved on information standards with scores ranging between 85 and 50.

“Companies have scored over 80 per cent in each of the four scoring categories, but no one company has scored well across all categories. This shows that while there is room for improvement, a high score is achievable,” said Amit Tandon, managing director, IiAS.

Other key findings:

2017 Governance Scores for BSE 100 Companies

India’s Top 10 companies with highest corporate governance scores