The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has set up a committee to advise on various issues related to improving corporate governance standards in Indian companies.
The committee will advise the capital markets regulator on improving safeguards and disclosures regarding related-party transactions, issues in accounting and auditing practices by listed companies and transparency-related issues, SEBI said in a statement.
The 24-member panel is headed by Uday Kotak, vice chairman and managing director at Kotak Mahindra Bank. It includes prominent people such as Zia Mody of law firm AZB & Partners; Cyril Shroff, managing partner at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas; J Ravichandran, acting CEO of the National Stock Exchange; Joydeep Sengupta, senior partner at consulting firm McKinsey & Co; N Venkatram, CEO at Deloitte India; and Arun Kumar, chairman and CEO at KPMG India.
Keki Mistry, CEO at HDFC; Rishad Premji, chief strategy officer at Wipro Ltd; and R Shankar Raman, CFO at engineering conglomerate Larsen & Toubro Ltd; are also part of the panel.
“Much has happened in this space (corporate governance) and it will be useful to debate what the correct temperature check should be and how the committee's recommendations will have a salutary effect for the market,†Mody told VCCircle.
Mistry said the panel will meet on a monthly basis to discuss issues related to corporate governance and will strive to give holistic views to the regulator.
SEBI, which in January issued guidelines on how companies should evaluate the performance of their directors to ensure objectivity and improve corporate governance, has given the panel to submit its report within four months.
The panel will give recommendations on active participation of independent directors, accounting and auditing practices by listed companies and effectiveness of board evaluation practices.
