1. Reactions to Vodafone The discussions on the Vodafone judgment of the Supreme Court continue to raise questions regarding tax avoidance, and also aspects of corporate law (distinguishing the sale of shares and sale of assets). While Prashant Bhushan has raised questions regarding the judgment on several counts (here and here), Arvind Datar...
Minority Shareholder Protection in M&A
The Economic Times examines a recent trend whereby companies have preferred asset sales or business sales (also known as “slump sales”, an expression that bears uniqueness to India, as I am yet to come across that expression elsewhere) over takeovers thereby shortchanging minority shareholders of the seller companies. The argument goes: by structuring the deal as a business sale, all that is...
Regulating the Pay of Bankers in the Private Sector
Last week, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued compensation guidelines for implementation by private sector and foreign banks that become operational from the financial year 2012-2013. This approach is consistent with the trend that corporate governance norms in the banking sector tend to be more controlled than in other industry sectors. Apart from the fact that the pay of CEOs and wholetime...
Companies Bill, 2011: Duties of Directors
The Companies Act, 1956 does not contain any specific provision that generally governs the duties of directors. The duties are instead governed by common law, which judges are required to apply to a given set of facts and circumstances. Under common law, there are two broad sets of director duties: (i) duty to act with skill, care and diligence, and (ii) fiduciary duties (to act in the interests...
Companies Bill, 2011: Independent Directors
Corporate governance generally places a fair amount of emphasis on board independence, and it is no different in India. Having a minimum number of independent directors (IDs) on the board is said to enhance monitoring of the management and promoters, and thereby protect the interests of the public shareholders. The Companies Bill, 2011 takes the concept of board independence to another level...
Shareholder Activism and Proxy-Advisory Firms
One constantly hears calls for greater activism among shareholders (particularly institutional investors) as one of the measures towards enhancing corporate governance in India. A method that has been utilized in other jurisdictions such as the U.S. is through proxy-advisory firms who advise investors on how to vote on resolutions proposed by companies. The concept of proxy-advisors seems to have...
Low Take-up Rate on D&O Insurance Policies
The Mint has a report today stating that “only 5-6% of publicly traded companies in India have taken D&O insurance policies, compared with nearly 95% of Fortune 500 companies”. This seems striking considering the fear that various corporate governance episodes in India have generated among directors and managements. One of the key reasons for lack of D&O insurance policies is generally...
Corporate Governance: Transactions with Controlling Shareholders
Two recent events around the world bear eerie resemblances with India’s own corporate governance scandal that came to light in Satyam Computers nearly three years ago. Readers may recall that the Satyam episode was triggered by the company’s proposed acquisition of two related entities, Maytas Properties and Maytas Infra, which was approved by the board of Satyam, but vehemently rejected by its...
Papers on Corporate Governance in India
The following recent papers contribute to the empirical literature on corporate governance in India, and deal with issues that have hitherto received less attention. 1. Executive Compensation in India by Rajesh Chakrabarti, Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Pradeep K. Yadav & Yesha Yadav. The abstract is as follows: We present an introductory regulatory and empirical analysis of executive...
Corporate Governance in Emerging Markets
A recent study by Melsa Ararat and George Dallas under the aegis of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) highlights some of the special issues affecting corporate governance in emerging markets. In their paper Corporate Governance in Emerging Markets: Why It Matters to Investors—and What They Can Do About It, the authors comment on the scholarly research in corporate governance in emerging...
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