Best of BS Opinion: Four years of GST, towards better governance & more

Here are the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for Thursday

The Securities and Exchange Board of India has made several important changes to regulations pertaining to independent directors (IDs). These changes are designed to improve corporate governance by distancing IDs from the promoters and management, and to increase the transparency on remuneration for IDs. Under the new regulations, which come into force from January 2022, IDs must be appointed, reappointed, or removed through a special resolution of shareholders. This requires a 75 per cent vote in favour as opposed to an ordinary resolution, which requires only a simple majority. This in itself, should ensure that IDs are approved by minority shareholders, except in very closely held corporations, says our lead editorial

The case of SoftBank’s investment in solar power in India and its exit is an example of the difficulties of bringing order and scale to India’s power sector, writes Shyam Ponappa

The coming weeks should give us an idea on how e-commerce firms would do business in India if new rules are to be followed, writes Nivedita Mookerji

As the GST system moves into the fifth year, there is no doubt that it has fallen short of initial expectations, and concerted efforts need to be made to improve one of the most significant reforms in recent decades to make it a more stable and efficient tax system, notes our second editorial

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“The second wave has front-ended weakness in asset quality.”

S&P Global Ratings