Need to clampdown on unethical practices by companies: Omar

"The business environment in the country is the riskiest at the moment. A lot needs to be done to clampdown on unethical practices by some companies as they try to circumvent their risks," Omar told the 13th National Conference of Practicing Company Secretaries here.

He said the laws governing corporate and company affairs were not enough to keep a check on companies with "weak business morality" and Company Secretaries had an important role to play in ensuring compliance of these laws.

Citing the examples of Satyam and TCS, Omar said that while the two companies had the same environment and laws governing them, there was a difference in ethical practices.

"Weak business morality causes problems not only to the companies resorting to it but also to the investors who put in the hard earned savings into these companies," he said.

Omar, who was MoS Commerce in the NDA government at Centre between 2000 and 2004, said the problem of unethical practices was not "unique" to India and cases have been reported from developed countries as well.

"It is not unique to India. You need to look at Enron," he added. (More)