Cos must decide on number of directors

The ministry of company affairs is of the view that the maximum number of directors, which the companies would have on their boards, be left to the firms themselves and the government would have no say on this.

R Vasudevan, director of inspection and investigation with the ministry of company affairs, said, "The companies would decide on the number of directors it would have".

In the case of independent directors holding directorships on several firms, he said that the opinion was that it should be limited to 15 companies at a time including alternate directorship.

Vasudevan, who was closely involved with the preparation of Irani panel report on company affairs, said that regarding the proportion of independent and executive directors on companies' boards, numbers did not matter much.

"What was most important was substance", he said. However, he said the ministry viewed the suggestion that independent directors to constitute one-third of the boards' strength as adequate.