Platform for training independent directors launched

With the markets watchdog Sebi and the new Companies Act tightening the norms on the conduct of independent directors, the demand for quality hands has been on the rise but without much success.
To partly help resolve the shortage of trained people for board positions, the city-based National Kannada Education Society (NKES) today launched a unique platform for independent directors under the label of 'Center of Excellence for Independent Directors (CEID)' to train independent directors and non-executive directors.
Launching the centre, retired Supreme Court judge B N Srikrishna said as many as 7,618 companies are listed on the BSE alone and most of them are in need of well-informed independent directors who know best governance practises and the centre will go a long way in this.

The CEID, set up in collaboration with leading company secretaries firm Riddhi M Patel & Co, will provide a platform for independent directors and non-executive directors to interact, learn, share their experiences and discover potential governance practises.
Srikrishna said the centre can help educate companies and independent directors in simplifying each sections of these norms that deal with the code of independent directors, which is very subjective and can lead to lot of misinterpretations.
The CEID has taken a challenge to provide independent directors with the right training and necessary information required for their role in public interest, he said, adding this development comes at a time when there is a pressing need to create a reservoir of well-informed independent directors from which nomination committees and promoters can select talent for their boards.

The centre will offer workshops, programmes, seminars, online fora, articles and legal opinion to its participants and members, apart from holding one-day workshops and seminars.

Under the new Companies Act and the revised Sebi guidelines on listing norms as specified in the LODR (listing obligations and disclosure requirements) Regulations, each listed company should have at least two independent directors, who will be evaluated on the basis of their contribution and conduct.
These norms also limit their tenor with a company to five years and also cap the number of boards they can represent at 10 at a time.
The NKES runs the b-school SVIMS (Sir M Visvesvaraya Institute of Management Studies) at Wadala in northeastern Mumbai. Among the top-10 upcoming B-schools, it offers full-time MBA course of Mumbai University.