Uday Kotak Panel Report ‘Completely Off The Mark’, Says Piyush Goyal

Union Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said the report of the Uday Kotak-chaired panel on corporate governance has gone “completely off the mark” even as he opined that there are many things good as well as inappropriate in it.

In its report submitted to markets regulator SEBI on Thursday, the panel suggested a major overhaul of corporate governance norms for listed companies, including limiting chairmanship to only non-executive directors and appointing at least one woman as independent director.

Talking about the report, Goyal said that to his mind, diversity of experience has to be encouraged and businessmen are supposed to keep their accounts honest and correct.

Also Read: SEBI's Corporate Governance Committee Proposes, Government Opposes

"That is where the problem is. When I run my board, I choose people who are going to be yes men or listen to, go by what I say... so that is the base problem today. What he [Kotak] is recommending is I get to choose who will be on my board, who is convenient for me to be on the board," Goyal said at the India Economic Summit of the World Economic Forum (WEF).

Among others, the report has suggested that the companies should be required to disclose the list of competencies or expertise that its board members actually possess.

"I think he [Kotak] has gone completely off the mark," he said, adding that there are many good things in the report and many things which were inappropriate.

Goyal, who is the railway minister, said there is a good idea that a woman director be made compulsory. With regard to independent director, he said the board themselves should decide the independent directors. But this is already happening. There is nothing new, he added.