Tag: Corporate Governance
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Doing Business Report 2015: A Mixed Bag for India
The World Bank has released its report titled “Doing Business 2015: Going Beyond Efficiency”. It has also published a country report on India for the same year. At the overall level, India does not emerge in positive light, given that its ranking has fallen to 142 (out of a total of 189 countries) from 140…
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OECD on Public Enforcement of Corporate Governance in Asia
Normal 0 false false false EN-SG JA X-NONE /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:”Table Normal”; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:””; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:”Times New Roman”; mso-ansi-language:EN-SG;} The principles and norms of corporate governance tend to operate through layers. On the one hand, there is the basic legislation, i.e. the…
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“Dual-class” Share Structures
The recent NYSE listing of Alibaba has once again brought to the fore the issue of dual-class share structures, as discussed in this column in the Economist. Alibaba’s founder and a group of insider shareholders have control rights that are disproportionate to their economic rights. The wave of dual-class structures in tech-IPOs was triggered by…
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Report on Gender Diversity in Corporate Boards
The issue of board diversity has acquired considerable prominence in recent times. Although there can be various hues to the concept of diversity, one manifestation relates to gender diversity and the requirement for women directors on corporate boards. What began as a useful management strategy has acquired regulatory overtones. Several countries have incorporated gender diversity…
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SEBI’s Revisions to Corporate Governance Norms
In April this year, SEBI had announced a revamped clause 49 of the listing agreement specifying the revised corporate governance norms to come into effect from October 1, 2014. This was to bring the SEBI norms in line with the Companies Act, 2013 (2013 Act). However, in certain material respects, the new clause 49 differed…
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A Radical Idea for Restructuring Corporate Boards
Last week’s Schumpeter column in the Economist carries a provocative idea that involves a complete relook at the way boards of companies are structured and operated. It borrows a proposal from an article titled “Boards-R-Us: Reconceptualizing Corporate Boards” authored by two leading US corporate law academics. The column summarizes the proposal as follows: In the…
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OECD Report on Related Party Transactions in India
The topic of related party transactions (RPTs) has acquired tremendous importance lately and has been the subject matter of intense discussion and debate both on this Blog (here) and elsewhere (here, here and here). The discussions focus on the specifics and the interpretation of the Companies Act and the Rules promulgated by the Ministry of…
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Guest Post – MCA amends RPT rules: Makes provisions stricter
[The following post is contributed by Vinod Kothari and Shampita Das of Vinod Kothari & Company. They can be contacted respectively at vinod@vinodkothari.com and shampita@vinodkothari.com] The latest setback from the MCA has come by way of the amendments to the Companies (Meetings of Board and its Powers) Rules, 2014 (MBP Rules) vide its notification dated…
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Paper on Squeeze Outs in India
Professor Vikramaditya Khanna and I have co-authored a working paper titled “Regulating Squeeze Outs in India: A Comparative Perspective” that is now available on SSRN. The abstract is as follows: Squeeze outs are both visible and palpable manifestations of a controlling shareholder’s raw power within the corporate machinery – the ability to openly force minority…
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Guest Post: Corporate Law Reforms and Whistleblowing
[The following post is contributed by Suprotik Das, a 3rd year law student at the Jindal Global Law School, Sonepat, Haryana] Last year, with the advent of the Companies Act, 2013 (the Act), the thrust has been toward fraud protection and having an effective corporate vigil mechanism. Companies in India are now required to have…
