Companies still falling short of meeting governance standards

Although the top 100 listed entities are performing relatively well in terms of meeting corporate governance standards, they still fall behind in certain areas. According to the third edition of Excellence Enablers’ Corporate Governance Study, 40 firms have only supplied an email address for whistleblowers, and of these, 8 are general email addresses. While 41 individuals have provided an address, 32 are business addresses and 9 are personal emails. Only 21 individuals have provided the email and address of the Chair of the Audit Committee. M Damodaran, the former SEBI Chairman, is the chairperson of Excellence Enablers.

There is still some ambiguity about the directors’ familiarisation programs. Some companies have now integrated interaction with key management personnel into their Directors’familiarisation program. In FY20 and FY21, one PSU did not undertake any initiatives, and another did not disclose information on its website. In FY22, eight companies, including two PSUs, did not provide details of the program on their respective websites.