After boardroom battles, spotlight on directors

With boardroom battles erupting in Tatas and Infosys, the spotlight is now turning to a more muscular evaluation of boards. 

The new Companies Act asks all listed firms to assess their boards, committees, and directors. In addition, it needs the independent directors to evaluate the chairperson of the board. Led by a senior independent director, non-executive directors, too, need to assess the chairperson. 

The assessment of directors could be critical to their appointment and removal. Interestingly, India is one of the few countries to make board assessments compulsory. 

Institutional Investor Advisory Services and National Stock Exchange conducted a joint study on 100 listed companies (from Nifty 50 and Nifty midcap indices). The infographic shows how board evaluation practices changed at these firms in 2015-16 from a year ago: