Now an ‘etiquette’ school for company directors?

At a time when new corporate rules have substantially changed the responsibilities of directors, there is a push in the Indian industry to improve the quality and effectiveness of corporate governance.

In a bid to improve the quality of board-level governance in Indian industry, corporate heavyweights including Keki Mistry of HDFC and Satish Reddy of Dr Reddy's Laboratories are coming together. The new group will be headed by Arun Duggal, former chairman of Shriram Capital. As per a news report by the Economic Times, Saroj Poddar of Adventz Group, Rashesh Shah of Edelweiss Financial Services, Shailesh Haribhakti of DH Consultants and Harsh Goenka of RPG Enterprises will also be a part to it.

The financial daily has confirmed that the forum is being set up under the aegis of the FICCI Centre for Corporate Governance.
"The objective of the forum is to enhance the corporate governance practice and standards by having better-informed and more-engaged board members," Duggal, who is the chairman of Ficci Centre for Corporate Governance told the ET. "The Companies Act 2013 and Sebi guideline have provided a structure and hardware for governance. What we want to provide is the software of information, knowledge, insight and peer learning for board members to be more effective."

Membership will be strictly by invitation. The forum plans to start by inviting board members from the top 200 BSE companies.
Among these programmes, the forum will offer an optional four-day board effectiveness course in association with the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad, led by director Ashish Nanda, and Harvard Business School, the ET report reads.

In the next two-three years, the forum expects to yield results in the form of more engaged and informed board members and provide a lot of motivation to people.

(Image credits: indiatimes.com)