Skip to main content

Many Cos Yet to Appoint a Woman Director on Their Boards

By
To ensure gender-diversity in boardrooms, two years ago the market regulator asked all listed firms to have at least one woman director on their boards from April 1, 2015
Some of India's largest public sector units, including Oil & Natural Gas Corp, GAIL (India) Ltd, Indian Oil Corp and MMTC, are among the companies that have failed to meet the requirement of at least one woman director on their boards, more than a year after the rule came into force.
About half of the 56 NSE-listed companies that have yet to meet the rule are state-owned enterprises, according to PRIME Database, a data provider on capital markets.
The deadline to meet the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) rule was March 31, 2015. “Though a bulk of the companies has met the criterion, there are some for whom it does not seem to be on top of their agenda,“ said Pranav Haldea, managing director of PRIME Database.
It is an embarrassment to the government as PSUs do not see it as a priority, said Anil Singhvi, founder director of Institutional Investor Advisory Services India (IAAS), a proxy advisory company for Institutional Investors. “It is not about just gender diversity, getting in capable woman directors brings in diversity of thought,“ he said.
As per data collated by PRIME Database, other PSUs that have yet to meet the mandate as of April 7 include National Fertilisers, Oriental Bank of Commerce, Power Finance Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp, Madras Fertilisers, Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilisers, Rural Electrification Corp and State Trading Corp of India.
To ensure gender-diversity in boardrooms, two years ago Sebi asked all listed firms to have at least one woman director on their bo ards from April 1, 2015. A significant number of companies inducted a woman member from the promoter family to comply with the rule within the deadline.
“There is sufficient number of well-qualified woman director candidates available. It must be the internal processes of these PSUs that are inhibiting them to take this forward and meet the regulations,“ said Arun Duggal, chairman of local ratings firm ICRA. It is incumbent upon PSUs to be the role models in terms of compliance and corporate governance, said Duggal, an expert on corporate governance and a mentor to independent directors. “If government-owned companies don't comply, how can the government expect others to comply?“ To an ET query, GAIL said it is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and its “directors are nominatedappointed by the Government of India.“ ONGC didn't respond to an email seeking comment until press time Sunday.
While Indian industry has been showing keenness on building a pipeline of woman leaders through rigorous mentoring programmes, it is still not yet easy for a woman to get a board position unless she is a well-known person.
Ireena Vittal, Manisha Girotra, Kalpana Morparia, Naina Lal Kidwai and Falguni Nayar are some top woman executives who are directors of multiple companies.
The Economic Times New Delhi, 18th April 2016

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

New income tax slab and rates for new tax regime FY 2023-24 (AY 2024-25) announced in Budget 2023

By
  Basic exemption limit has been hiked to Rs.3 lakh from Rs 2.5 currently under the new income tax regime in Budget 2023. Further, the income tax slabs in the new tax regime has been changed. According to the announcement, 5 income tax slabs will be there in FY 2023-24, from 6 income tax slabs currently. A rebate under Section 87A has been enhanced under the new tax regime; from the current income level of Rs.5 lakh to Rs.7 lakh. Thus, individuals opting for the new income tax regime and having an income up to Rs.7 lakh will not pay any taxes   The income tax slabs under the new income tax regime will now be as follows: Rs 0 to Rs 3 lakh - 0% tax rate Rs 3 lakh to 6 lakh - 5% Rs 6 lakh to 9 lakh - 10% Rs 9 lakh to Rs 12 lakh - 15% Rs 12 lakh to Rs 15 lakh - 20% Above Rs 15 lakh - 30%   The revised Income tax slabs under new tax regime for FY 2023-24 (AY 2024-25)   Income tax slabs under new tax regime Income tax rates under new tax regime O to Rs 3 lakh 0 Rs 3 lakh to Rs 6 lakh 5% Rs 6
Post a Comment
Read more

Jaitley plans to cut MSME tax rate to 25%

By
Income tax for companies with annual turnover up to ?50 crore has been reduced to 25% from 30% in order to make Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) companies more viable and also to encourage firms to migrate to a company format. This move will benefit 96% or 6.67 lakh of the 6.94 lakh companies filing returns of lower taxation and make MSME sector more competitive as compared with large companies. However, bigger firms have shown their disappointment since the proposal for reducing tax rates was to make Indian firms competitive globally and it is the large firms that are competing globally. The Finance Minister foregone revenue estimate of Rs 7,200 crore per annum for this for this measure. Besides, the Finance Minister refrained from removing or reducing Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT), a popular demand from India Inc., but provided a higher period of 15 years for carry forward of future credit claims, instead of the existing 10-year period. “It is not practical to rem
1 comment
Read more

Don't forget to verify your income tax return in August: Here's the process

By
  An ITR return needs to be verified within 120 days of filing of tax return. Now that you have filed your income tax return, remember to verify it because your return filing process is not complete unless you do so. The CBDT has reduced the time limit of ITR verification to 30 days (from 120 days) from the date of return submission. The new rule is applicable for the returns filed online on or after 1st August 2022. E-verification is the most convenient and instant method for verifying your ITR. However, if you prefer not to e-verify, you have the option to verify it by sending a physical copy of the ITR-V. Taxpayers who filed returns by July 31, 2023 but forget to verify their tax returns, will get the following email from the tax department, as per ClearTax. If your ITR is not verified within 30 days of e-filing, it will be considered invalid, and may be liable to pay a Late Fee. Aadhaar OTP | EVC through bank account | EVC through Demat account | Sending duly signed ITR-V through s
Post a Comment
Read more