School of Finance organised Master Class on “Behavioural Finance” for participants of IICA Valuation Certificate Program (IVCP) on October 31, 2020. Dr Prasanna Chandra, renowned finance professor, discussed with participants on various topics like triune model of human brain, investors irrationality, taxonomy of heuristics and biases, expected utility theory, key tenets of prospect theory and market inefficiency. He also covered in details the concept of behavioural finance and rational finance through case studies and examples. The participants appreciated the master class and enjoyed the interaction with the expert faculty.

The School of Competition Law & Market Regulation, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) in collaboration with the Centre for Competition Law and Policy, NLU Jodhpurorganized a Virtual conference on "Competition Law and Market Definition in Digital Era” on 24th October, 2020. The main agenda for the conference was to discuss the importance of delineating relevant market and factors affecting the definition of market in digital technologycases. Various challenges faced by anti-trust regimes were also highlighted and discussed in theconference.

The panelists for the conference included dignitaries such asDr, Sean Ennis (Professor of Competition Policy, Norwich Business School Centre), Dr. Vijay Kumar Singh(Dean, School of Law, UPES), Mr. AnshumanSakle (Partner in Competition Practice at Cyril AmarchandMangaldas). Dr. PoonamSaxena, (Vice Chancellor, NLU Jodhpur) inaugurated the conference with her opening remarks.

The conference was successfully convened and moderated by Dr. AbhaYadav, Associate Professor, School of Competition Law and Market Regulation and Anand Kumar Singh, Asst. Professor, NLU Jodhpur. The participants of the conference included students, practicing advocates, regulatory officials, and Academicians.

IICA organized a Power Panel discussing the “Role of Proxy Advisors in Corporate Governance Standards”. The panel featured the promoters of prominent proxy advisory firms of the country. The objective behind the discussion was to orient the Independent Directors (IDs) about the role proxy advisors play in upholding the standards of corporate governance standards in the country.

Dr. Niraj Gupta moderated the discussion and acknowledged that proxy advisors are relatively a new phenomenon in the Indian landscape. Their role is to match and meet the expectations of the shareholders. They also have to be judicious in scanning the corporate governance practices of the companies and provide appropriate recommendations to shareholders from time to time. The expert speakers of the program were introduced and invited to set the tone of the discussion by sharing their perspectives.

Mr. Amit Tandon, Managing Director, Institutional Advisory Services India Limited (IiAS) in his initial remarks elaborated the task of proxy advisors holding proxies on behalf of institutional advisors. Conceptually, proxy advisors had its origin in USA and still regarded as a relatively new concept in any investor support system. In USA they cast vote on behalf of institutional investors. Proxy advisory system came into being in India around 2010-11. Contrast to USA, proxy advisors do not vote on behalf of investors in India but advise them time to time. Their main task is to study shareholders resolutions and give them voting recommendation.

Mr J.N. Gupta, Managing Director, Stakeholder Empowerment Services (SES), in his initial address, stated that initially the proxy advisory firms in India had few takers. Later, there is a sea change in the perception of companies and they are willing to seek recommendations from the proxy advisors. Proxy advisors send their reports to investors and to the companies simultaneously. He urged the companies to view proxy advisors not as adversaries but as partners in the company to develop good corporate governance standards. Adding to this notion, Dr. Niraj Gupta said … it is very important for the independent directors to read the reports of proxy advisors very carefully besides the other financial and non-financial reports.

Mr Shriram Subramanian, Managing Director, InGovern Research Services Private Limited, in his initial remarks said that proxy advisors play role of governance solution companies and act as a medium and intermediary to engage with investors by providing them advice on various issues. He gave an example on capital restructuring where the minority shareholders need their advice because it may impact the value of their shares. He further expressed that Mutual Funds hold hundreds and thousands of portfolios and sometimes need specific advice. For instance, the companies do not give a detailed explanation about the Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) to their investors. Though ESOP is an employee benefit measure, it may still have cost impact on investors. Besides advising on compliance issues, proxy advisors can help the investors to be more judgmental in their approach. He opined that directors face more challenges in promoter owned companies, than those professionally managed by MNCs.

After the initial comments from the esteemed speakers, the power panel moved forward with the Question and Answer Session

The session ended with a Vote of Thanks to the speakers and the participants.

IICA in association with IMI, Kolkata jointly organized a Power Panel on October 1, 2020 titled “Developing and Sustaining Effective Boards”. The program was aimed to orient Independent Directors (IDs) on various skill sets they should possess to develop and sustain effective boards in India.

Dr. Niraj Gupta, Head, School of Corporate Governance & Public Policy, IICA, in his initial address expressed his gratitude towards the institutions and partners including IMI which have dedicated departments for Corporate Governance. He indicated to gear up board effectiveness practices and necessity to contribute in its sustainability. As a moderator of the event, he later introduced the speakers and invited them to deliver their initial remarks.

Dr. Tirthankar Nag, Professor, IMI Kolkata, said board of directors are usually under increasing pressure to achieve multiple objectives of creating a culture, improve board diversity, nurturing the management team, engagement with stakeholders etc. He pointed that an effective board includes diversity, high quality decisions, balance between long and short-term objectives etc. However, in reality such board rarely exists. Referring to Companies Act, 2013, he expressed Guidance Notes, SEBI (LODR) Regulations are there in the form of direction to the board, yet, more can be done on behavioral and reporting aspects.

Dr. Chanchal Chatterjee, Associate Professor, IMI Kolkata, stated about the aim of the board to do its job efficiently and effectively. In India, various committees on Corporate Governance recommended several aspects to change Corporate Governance. He reinstated majority of frauds are related to governance as the major issue. Corporate Governance system has improved over the time but the protection of stakeholder’s interest is still the priority for effective governance. He emphasized inspite of various committees such as Audit Committees, Nomination and Remuneration Committee (NRC) etc., the most important thing is how each director is contributing towards the board. In this respect, management intent is very important and cannot be undermined.

The session ended by attending to some other interesting questions from the participants and final comments from Dr Niraj Gupta.