M Damodaran, chairman and managing director of Industrial Bank of India was on Thursday appointed the chairman of Securities and Exchange Board of India.
Stock exchanges' levy of penalties, ranging from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 12 lakh, on public-sector undertakings (PSUs) for lapses in board composition for the 2024-25 October-December quarter has brought forth issues of governance. Last month, 16 PSUs requested bourses to waive these penalties, arguing that these lapses were neither due to negligence nor within their control, as the appointment of directors is managed by the government.
M Damodaran, chairman and managing director of UTI Asset Management Company, and administrator of UTI's specified undertaking, on Wednesday assumed the office of the CMD of Industrial Development Bank of India as a temporary measure.
M Damodaran is likely to head the new market value-based UTI Mutual Fund, promoted by LIC and three leading banks, after the new fund becomes operational from February 1.
The boardrooms of India's large listed companies are steadily expanding as corporate governance standards tighten and regulatory compliance rises. Boards of Nifty 100 companies boasted an average of 10.52 members as of FY24, compared to 9.86 in FY21 and 10.48 in FY23, according to the fifth edition of Excellence Enablers' Survey on Corporate Governance, an initiative led by M Damodaran, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).
Regulatory capacity, hyperactivity and excessive prescription are the biggest challenges the financial sector is facing, said Meleveetil Damodaran, former chairperson, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi). Speaking at the Business Standard BFSI Summit on Wednesday, Damodaran highlighted the need for simpler, clear, and continuous regulations in the financial sector. He opined that the industry had felt it challenging to keep pace with the changing regulations.
An interview with Sebi chief M Damodaran.
Noted banker Deepak Parekh on Thursday pitched for simpler corporate governance norms that focus more on trust than just compliance, saying economics and ethics are not trade-offs but complementary. Behind each financial crisis there is a governance failure but it is the entire system that gets impacted, because an eruption of a corporate or financial crisis almost always means a tightening of rules and regulations and increased compliance for all, he said. The HDFC chairman, who was addressing a seminar on corporate governance organised by former Sebi chairman M Damodaran's advocacy Excellence Enablers in Mumbai, stressed that the ultimate objective should be that corporate governance systems must become simpler and not more complicated.
Rahul Bhatia and Rakesh Gangwal - the founders of IndiGo - will possibly face each other with deep mistrust, which the board chairman, M Damodaran, will attempt to defuse.
The National Stock Exchange (NSE) has got into firefighting mode to control the reputational damage caused by the Securities and Exchange Board of India's (Sebi's) order against its former managing director and chief executive officer Chitra Ramkrishna and others. According to sources, the exchange's management over the past one week has met several key stakeholders, including officials in the finance ministry and Sebi, major shareholders, and trading members, trying to distance itself from the controversy. The exchange plans to hold more meetings in the coming week to ensure that trading volumes and confidence in the bourse don't get impacted, they added.
Sweeping reforms mooted; feedback open till Aug 27.
The Damodaran committee appointed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to revisit the issue of banks' customer services is likely to recommend capping on service charges to small borrowers or vulnerable sections of society.
An eight-member jury, chaired by M Damodaran, the former chairman of Sebi, IDBI and UTI, nominated the finalists who will be felicitated on February 7.
M D Mallya was chosen by a five-member jury headed by Securities & Exchange Board of India's former chairman, M Damodaran, for BoB's sterling performance over the last couple of years.
Industrial Development Bank of India chairman M Damodaran has resigned from the board following his appointment as the Securities and Exchange Board of India chief.
Also, on Wednesday Mahindra Satyam said its board has approved settlement of lawsuits brought by its former client Upaid Systems by paying $70 million.
A six-member jury headed by former Securities and Exchange Board of India chairman M Damodaran will declare the winner of the award for 2009 on February 16 in Mumbai.
"This decision of removing initial issue expense will make close-ended mutual fund schemes less expensive for retail investors", Sebi chairman M Damodaran said while briefing reporters after the board meeting. The Sebi board also cleared the draft proposal for listing of debt securities, ease disclosure norms for existing debt market securities and paved the way for permanent registration of capital market intermediaries.
The scam-hit Satyam Computer founder B Ramalinga Raju, brother Rama Raju and ex-chief financial officer Srinivas are in 'protective custody', former Securities and Exchange Board of India chief M Damodaran said in Ahmedabad on Saturday.
Some of the world's biggest foundations, including Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, pension funds such as CalPERS, university funds and endowments are registered as foreign institutional investors with the Securities and Exchange Board of India for several years now.
Terming the newly constituted board of Satyam Computer as "able", former Sebi chairman M Damodaran today expressed the confidence that the new leadership will chalk out ways to tide over the crisis.
At the same time, he cautioned authorities against giving corporate governance and rating awards to companies before they actually prove that they are practising the same. Pointing out that the people were taken in by the wrong numbers given by the company, he said people should always be on guard and ask more questions before making investment decisions.
Most independent directors have mastered the art of nodding whenever the chairman says anything.
Bhave, a former civil servent, had headed the country's leading depository, National Securities Depository Limited, and was one of the first senior executive directors to come on Sebi's board.
Sebi has signed an MoU with its Pakistani couterpart to enhance cooperation between the two countries.
The feud between Gangwal and Bhatia came into the public after the former, in July, wrote to markets regulator Sebi seeking its intervention to address alleged corporate governance lapses at the company.
The Sebi board, which met in Chennai, approved introduction of these new derivative products based on the interim recommendations made by a committee on derivatives headed by M Rammohan Rao. The new products will relate to mini-contracts on equity indices, options with longer life/tenures, volatility index and F&O (futures & options) contracts, options on futures, bond indices and F&O contracts.
The Sebi board has cleared new categories of FIIs; they will be put on website shortly. Sebi has received a large response from both India and abroad on its proposals to restrict Participatory Notes. The 18-month time frame given for FIIs to wind up derivatives-based P-Notes is enough, M Damodaran, Sebi chief said.
Regulators have to essay a facilitating role while simultaneously ensuring that rules are simple, easy to understand and help in orderly conduct by corporates, the Securities and Exchange Board of India chairman M Damodaran said.
Asset management firms relying heavily on liquid fund investments.
Pointing out there is complete awareness of what needs to be done, who needs to do it and the urgency to get it done, Damodaran said the only thing missing is its execution.
SEBI revealed its plans of introducing two new products within a month.
The chairman of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, M Damodaran, said on Wednesday public sector companies will have to comply with Clause 49 of the listing agreement for stock exchanges. However, few government-owned companies have met the Clause 49 stipulation (the table shows the state of play in some large government-owned companies).
The Securities and Exchange Board of India is in talks with the department of company affairs for seeking power to regulate stock splits below a certain value, according to Sebi chairman M Damodaran.
"When we talk about corporate governance, we are talking more in terms of creating an organisation that discloses much more than the past, about organisations knowing who they are dealing with and not merely about who the independent directors are. Let companies see that governance goes beyond the boardroom and informs all processes and levels within an organisation," Damodaran said.
The market watchdog along with other regulators is developing bond markets and the current limit on foreign participation in the this markets will move away as the market develops in the next 12 months, said Sebi Chairman M Damodaran.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India will increase overseas participation in the Indian stock markets and is planning two specific measures in this regard, Sebi Chairman M Damodaran told Business Standard in an exclusive interview.
"Whatever may be the political undercurrents, the economy, and the markets, are bound to go forward at its own pace. It will get bigger and better. Our challenge is to keep it safe (for the benefit of investors)," the Sebi chief said.
Sebi chief M Damodaran recently said that regulations for mutual fund distributors should be introduced.
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