a)      Dr M Veerappa Moily, Minister of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, asserted “Government must do everything to strengthen industry and at the same time industry must take the right course. Sometimes the government has to regulate, but that should not be dominant,” He also said that “This is the era of democratic capitalism. All of us need to graduate to that culture. What we need is systemic change. We need to rise above the law. It is important that laws and corporate governance manages to create values in personal, public and corporate life. New cultures need to be made,”

b)        Mr. B Muthuraman, President, CII said, “The key issue is to have ‘just enough’ law, while leaving room for entrepreneurship, creativity and good behaviour. The law that merely leads one to compliance is not adequate. We must encourage laws that change behaviour. Elucidating further, President, CII said that instead of mandating CSR spend, the government should encourage it by incentivising good conduct and behaviour. We need to look at value creation beyond laws and compliance.”

c)     Mr Rahul Bajaj, Past President, CII & Chairman, CII National Council on Corporate Governance & Regulatory Affairs, presenting the perspective of industry, said, “Like in technology, we need to leapfrog in terms of regulations and adapt best global practices. The government should not strangulate our companies by burdening them with more regulations. We must trust those who create wealth for the nation. There will always be aberration but that should not come in the way of trust between government and corporates.”

d)    Mr Chandrajit Banerjee, Director General CII said, “We at CII, have always encouraged voluntary adoption of practices and self regulation by corporates thus obviating the need for additional regulations. Our comprehensive and sustained policy advocacy has been aimed at facilitating the creation of a streamlined and harmonized regulatory environment that addresses both the government’s concerns as well as the industry’s need for growth.” 

e)      A CII KPMG report titled ‘Corporate Governance: Value Beyond Compliance’ was released by the Corporate Affairs Minister on this occasion.

Over the last few years, India has witnessed a significant progression in standards and guidelines that have transformed the Indian corporate governance framework. In order to remain responsive to global developments, corporate governance standards have been constantly evaluated, assessed and strengthened.

The changes range from reworking board compositions, creating focused board committees and enhancing internal governance & controls to articulating risk appetites and oversight, engaging a wider range of stakeholders and improving reporting frameworks. Most of Corporate India has voluntary adopted best corporate governance practices through these dynamic years.

Against this background, CII”s 7th Corporate Governance Summit addressed the need for balancing regulatory requirements & voluntary initiatives and also deliberate on the international experience in this context. Given the uncertain times that we live in, the Summit would  focused  on the need for companies to outline how the company would recover and resolve post a crisis.

The Summit presented these and such other pertinent issues in the domain of corporate governance during a discussion with key stakeholders of corporate India – Government, Regulators, shareholders, investors, employees, customers and society.

The Conference had plenary sessions covering:

a)     Global Governance Landscape: Top Trends to Watch out for

b)    The Expanding Regulatory Perimeter: Does Corporate India need another set of Corporate Governance Guidelines?

Tata, Amarchand Mangaldas, Bajaj and KPMG where the sponsors of the Summit