The Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) successfully organized Two Days Online Familiarization Program for Independent Directors (Batch III) on 18-19 February, 2021.

Program was organized by School of Corporate Governance & Public Policy at Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs where 43 Independent Directors from 35 Companies (PSUs & Private Companies) participated in the Program.

Batch I of the similar program was conducted on 24-25 September and has witnessed participation of 68 Independent Directors. Batch II of the similar program was conducted on 26-27 Nov 2020 and has witnessed participation of 52 Independent Directors.

IICA Familiarization programme for Independent Directors was designed keeping in mind the unique training requirements and challenges of newly appointed Independent Directors on Boards and familiarize them on legal, governance and understanding of finance

Program was delivered with the mix of faculty from IICA as well as Industry Experts for making it more experiential and interactive. Two International corporate governance experts were also invited to engage sessions in the program.

The pedagogy of the program was based on class room sessions, experiential learning, case studies and evidence based learning for helping those seeking answers to the challenging questions and aspects.

The programme was concluded with closing session & remarks of Dr. Niraj Gupta where his discussed the key areas covered in two days and various lessons learnt during the program.

Centre for Independent Directors', IICA organized Author Speak program for the Book “Dreamers & Unicorn” authored by Mr. Abhijit Bhaduri for the members of Independent Director’s Databank on Friday 12th February, 2021.

The main objective of the program was to address the importance of start-up environment in modern economy and how to scale up businesses to built unicorns. Author also emphasised on early momentum of digital revolutions. Government initiatives, incentives and other efforts to make start-up friendly business environment was also the part of this program.

The Program commenced on 12th February, 2021 at 04:00 PM with the theme address of Dr. Niraj Gupta, Head School of Corporate Governance and Public Policy. He briefed the participants about the Author and his book which was the subject matter for discussion.

Mr. Abhijit Bhaduri, eminent author, columnist, Advisor among others, was the speaker of the program. Mr. Bhaduri has been associated with renowned companies like WIPRO, MICROSOFT, PepsiCO, Colgate etc in various roles and extensive & rich experience of companies which leads in innovations and new fronts of business.

He discussed various corporate practices adopted by many start-ups across industries to become unicorns and their strategies to face early stage challenges while delivering quality services or products. Retaining talent and efficient use of human resources by start-ups was also the part of discussion as it plays important role in development at every stage.

Mr. Bhaduri’s flawless explanation of things and answers to questions of participants made this program extremely beneficial for our members from the point of view of entrepreneurship, business management and knowledge resource.

Program concluded with the valedictory address of remarks of Dr. Niraj Gupta. CID coordinated the event and ensured successful delivery of the program.

The Forum of Indian Regulators Centre at Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs has successfully conducted the Three Days Online Capacity Building Program for Chairpersons and Members of FOIR Member Organizations from 08thFebruary- 10th February, 2021. The overarching theme of the training program was “Effective Regulation and Stakeholders Consultation”. Names of twenty one chairpersons and members from different regulatory body such asTAMP, IBBI, JERC-GOA, DERC, IBBI etc., were given for the program.

The three days online Capacity Building Program on “Effective Regulation and Stakeholders Consultation” began with the inaugural address of Dr. M S Sahoo, Chairperson, IBBI and Hony. Chairman FOIR. The experts engaged for delivering session included Dr. Geeta Gouri, Ex. Member, CCI; Mr. Jonathan Cave Member, UK Regulatory Policy Committee; Prof. Cary Coglianese, Edward B. Shils Professor of Law and Professor of Political ScienceDirector, Penn Program on Regulation; Ms. Bhargavi Zaveri,Senior Researcher, Finance Research Group (FRG), Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR);Dr.Amita Singh, President NAPSIPAG Centre for Disaster Research & Professor (Retd) Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; Mr. Vikas Kanungo, Senior Consultant, Digital Development Global Practice, The World Bank; Dr. Anirban Mazumdar,Associate Professor, Law, West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata.

The participants gave wonderful feedback on the program content, faculty and the training sessions. The program was directed and moderated by Dr.Abha Yadav, Director FOIR Centre (IICA) and Associate Professor, School of Competition Law and Market Regulations.

Centre for Independent Directors', IICA organized Power Panel: Utility of Cost Data and Cost Audit Report for Independent Directors program for the members of Independent Director’s Databank on Friday 5th February, 2021.

The main objective of the program was to highlight the importance of cost records for the point of view of Corporate Governance and to ensure authenticity of financial statements. How can cost data & records guide Independent directors to look into the foundations of financial information and its impact on decision making process at board level, was also the part of discussion.

The Program commenced on 05th February, 2021 at 04:30 PM with the theme address of Program Director Dr. Niraj Gupta, Head School of Corporate Governance and Public Policy. He briefed the participants about the importance of Cost records, Cost Audit and associated practices.

Panellist shared their knowledge & experience for usage of Cost data, records for decision making and its importance for determination of financial health of an organization. Uniform and general practices associated with costing were also discussed. Panellist informed the participants about applicability of Cost audit and maintenance of various records for compliance with applicable provisions.

There were lots of questions from participants and panellists answered their queries satisfactorily. Program concluded with the valedictory remarks of Dr. Niraj Gupta. CID coordinated the event and ensured successful delivery of the program.

Quality Council of India (QCI) on behalf of their line Ministry - Ministry of Commerce (Department of Economic Affairs) approached Mr. Rajesh Batra Head, Centre for MSME with a request to accept the invitation for participation as ‘’Panel Speaker’’ for Webinar on ‘’Financial Services Industry’’ scheduled on 3rd February, 2021 (Timing 4.00 PM to 6.00 PM).

The Session Moderator was Shri Suresh Sethi, Managing Director and CEO, NSDL e-Governance Infrastructure Ltd. Besides, Mr. Rajesh Batra Head, Centre for MSME, IICA, the other speakers in the selected panel were Shri S Ramann, National E-Governance Services Ltd., Shri Sateesh Palagiri, National Payments Corporation of India, Shri Vinod Kashyap, NextGen Knowledge Solutions Private Limited, Shri Rajiv Anand, Axis Bank, Shri Sandip Shah, Gujarat International Finance Tec-City (GIFT City).

The major points for discussion given to Panel Speaker - Mr. Rajesh Batra, Head Centre for MSME, IICA to share views about:

i)  Access to formal credit remains a significant challenge for MSMEs. How to bridge this gap to provide universal access to banking and financial services

ii)  Top strategic priorities for improving quality and productivity in financial services.

iii)  Recommendations for the spread and extension of banking and financial services.

Mr. Rajesh Batra, Head MSME, expressed views about important role played by NBFCs as well Industry Associations besides formal banks in the country and explained in detail about ‘How NBFCs and Industry Associations can be instrumental in extending Flow of Finance’ under Govt Schemes like CGTSME Finance, Collateral Free Schemes for Stand up India Scheme and Start up India Scheme with some monitoring mechanism / arrangement with SIDBI / Scheduled Bank under Priority Sector Lending, on the basis of legal vetting and Techno-Economic Viability ( TEV ) Report of Finance professional and ensure Financial discipline by way of periodical MIS reports confirming financial health of associated vendor companies and Due diligence / Credit Rating on pre defined matrix of performance standard.

The views expressed by Mr. Rajesh Batra, Head, MSME, IICA have been appreciated by the Session Moderator Mr. Suresh Sethi as well as participants from Trade and Industry.