Governance, Risk, and Compliance Handbook: Technology, Finance, Environmental, and International Guidance and Best Practices

CHAPTER 56

THE CURRENT AND FUTURE STATES OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE CULTURE AND REGULATION IN INDIA

Sanjay Anand

56.1 CLAUSE

56.2 THE PUBLIC SECTOR

(a) Case Study: Infosys

56.3 WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS

REFERENCES

Corporate governance is the cornerstone of accountability for publicly traded companies. The goal of sound corporate governance practices is to ensure that the interests of the shareholders, the people who own shares in the publicly traded company, are protected. It was not until the 1990s that corporate governance was contemplated seriously. This brought in a new era of business as the cold war ended and business opened up on a global scale with the birth of the Internet and the creation of a global village. Since then, many developed countries have raised the bar on corporate governance, generally in the wake of serious scandals in which publicly traded companies have demonstrated severe ethical mismanagement of company funds.

The United States has set the standard for corporate governance with the implementation of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002. This act has set forth strict guidelines regarding the accountability and reporting of the governing body of publicly traded companies. It has also set forth strict and severe punishments for any person or enterprise that violates the law as set out by the Act. While there has been an effort to create controls on corporate governance in India, until recently they fell far short of the guidelines presented in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act ...