In the ongoing saga involving the boardroom battle for the Tata Group, a new development may have significant implications for corporate governance practice in India. Yesterday, a Tata Group company, The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) notified the stock exchanges of a meeting held among the independent directors of the company. It stated: Taking into account Board assessments and...
Briefing on Board Independence
The new edition of the NSE Quarterly briefing is on “Issues in Board and Director Independence” and is drafted by Professor “Bala” N. Balasubramanian. The executive summary is as follows: – Worldwide, corporate governance best practices and regulations recognise the need for boards and directors to be independent and objective. – In a country such as India, where concentrated...
Independent Directors in Private Debt-Listed Companies
[The following guest post is contributed by Niddhi Parmar of Vinod Kothari & Co.] Earlier under Companies Act, 1956 (section 2(23A)) the term “listed public companies” was in a manner that clearly excluded private companies. Consequently, listed private companies were exempt from certain provisions that were exclusively applicable to listed public companies. However, the Companies Act, 2013...
Bombay High Court on Enforcing Articles and Board Nomination Rights
The last few years have witnessed a dispute between two families that relate to the right to nominate directors to the board of Yes Bank. Earlier this week, the Bombay High Court issued its judgment in Madhu Kapur & Ors. v. Rana Kapoor & Ors., which seeks to resolve the dispute – at least temporarily – and in the process clarifies some areas of corporate law and contract law...
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 from the provisions of the 2013 Act, in that clause 49 imposed a more...
MCA Clarification on Independent Directors
Based on a request made by various stakeholders, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has issued a clarification explaining some of the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 relating to independent directors. Some of the aspects clarified include the following: – For the purposes of the definition of an independent director, the concept of “pecuniary relationship” will not include...
SEBI Announces the Specifics of Revised Corporate Governance Norms
It was nearly a decade ago in October 2004 that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) announced substantial revisions to the corporate governance norms contained in clause 49 of the listing agreement that applies to all public companies listed on an Indian stock exchange. The revisions, however, took effect only from January 1, 2006. Since then, there have been some specific...
Companies Act, 2013: Directors’ Duties and Liabilities
The NSE Centre for Excellence in Corporate Governance (CECG) has issued its most recent quarterly briefing titled “Directors’ Duties and Liabilities in the New Era”. The executive summary is as follows: – Since directors and the board play a pivotal role in corporate governance, the law foists duties and liabilities on them; – The Companies Act, 2013 has brought about a paradigm shift...
Guest Post: Corporate Governance Disputes & Liability of Professionals and Non-Executive Directors
[The following is a guest post from Vinod Kothari of Vinod Kothari & Co. He can be contacted at [email protected]] The trail of litigation in Newcastle International Airport Limited vs. Eversheds LLP [2013] EWCA Civ 1514 , decided by the Court of Appeal on 28 November 2013, may be interesting for more than reason. One is quite obvious – a litigation that might have cost the plaintiff...
Duties of Directors: a Recent Judgment
The judgment of the English High Court in Madoff Securities v. Stephen Raven [2013] EWHC 3147 (Comm) was delivered last week, and is now available on BAILII. There is plenty of interesting dicta on the duties of directors. In England, the duties are codified in s. 172 of the UK Companies Act. 2006. (The new Indian Act also has a partial codification: see for example, s. 166 of the Companies Act...
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