Corporate Governance Practice at NHPC LTD, Jaypee Associates & United Kingdom
Corporate Governance Practice at NHPC LTD, Jaypee Associates & United Kingdom
Corporate Governance Practice at NHPC LTD, Jaypee Associates & United Kingdom
V REFERENCES 20
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‘Corporate Governance’
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE :
MEANING AND RELEVANCE
1.1 In the fast changing business scenario, good Corporate Governance helps
in achieving long term Corporate Goals of enhancing Stakeholders’ value.
Corporate Governance focuses on commitment to values adhering to ethical
business practices. This includes corporate structures, culture, policies and the
manner in which the Corporate entity deals with various stakeholders, with
transparency being the key word. Accordingly, timely, adequate and accurate
disclosure of information on the performance and ownership forms the
cornerstone of Corporate Governance.
Taking account of the needs of the environment and the local community;
Maintaining proper compliance with all the applicable legal and regulatory
requirements;
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CORPORATE GOVERNANCE :
NHPC LIMITED
BACKGROUND
2.1 NHPC Limited, A Govt. of India Enterprise, was incorporated in the year
1975 with an authorised capital of Rs. 2000 million and with an objective to
plan, promote and organise an integrated and efficient development of
hydroelectric power in all aspects. Later on NHPC expanded its objects to
include development of power in all its aspects through conventional and non-
conventional sources in India and abroad.
2.3 Since its inception in 1975, NHPC has grown to become one of the largest
organisation in the field of hydro power development in the country. With its
present capabilities, NHPC can undertake all activities from concept to
commissioning of Hydroelectric Projects.
Corporate Mission
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Corporate Vision
2.5 The corporate vision of the company states - A world class, diversified &
transnational organization for sustainable development of hydro power and
water resources with strong environment conscience.
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
2.8 This Code envisages that the Board of Directors of the Company must
act within the bounds of the authority conferred upon them and with a duty to
comply with the requirements of applicable law.
2.9 The principles prescribed in this Code are general in nature and lay down
broad standards of compliance and ethics, as required by Clause 49 of the
Listing Agreement with The Stock Exchanges. The Board Members should also
review other applicable policies and procedures of the Company for specific
instructions and guidelines, which are to be read in conjunction with this Code.
2.10 Ethical Conduct. Every Board Member shall act within the authority
conferred upon him by the Company and under applicable law, keeping the best
interests of the Company in view and shall:
Act with professionalism, utmost care, skill, diligence, honesty, good faith
and integrity as well as high moral and ethical standards;
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‘Corporate Governance’
Not exploit for his own personal gain, opportunities that are discovered
through use of corporate property, information or position, unless the
opportunity is disclosed fully in writing to the Board and the Board
declines to pursue such opportunity;
Not seek, accept, or offer or make, directly or indirectly, any gifts, illegal
payments, remuneration, donations or comparable benefits which are
intended to or perceived to obtain business or uncompetitive favours for
the conduct of business save as otherwise provided under the Rules;
Not commit any offence involving moral turpitude or any act contrary to
law or opposed to public policy.
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2.12 With respect to related party disclosures, Board Members shall make
disclosure to the Board under the provisions of Accounting Standard 18 annexed
hereto as Appendix II issued by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India
(ICAI) and / or any modification or re-codification thereof.
2.13 If a Board Member fails to make a disclosure as required herein, and the
Company of its own accord becomes aware of an instance of conflict of interest
that ought to have been disclosed by the Board Member, the Company would
take a serious view of the matter and consider suitable disciplinary action
against the Board Member.
2.15 Insider Trading. Every Board Member shall comply with the Code of
Internal Procedures and Conduct in dealing with the securities of the Company.
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standards set out in the applicable laws and regulations are below that of the
Code, then the standards of the Code shall prevail.
2.19 Health, Safety and Environment. The Company and the Board
Members shall strive to provide a safe and healthy working environment and
comply, in the conduct of its business affairs, with all regulations regarding the
preservation of the environment of the territory it operates in. The Board
Members shall be committed to prevent the wasteful use of natural resources
and minimize any hazardous impact of the development, production, use and
disposal of any of its products and services on the ecological environment.
2.20 Protection of Assets. The Board Members shall not misuse, for
personal gain or otherwise, the assets of the Company, including tangible assets
such as equipment and machinery, systems, facilities, materials, resources as
well as intangible assets such as proprietary information, relationships with
customers and suppliers, etc., and shall employ them for the purpose of
conducting the business for which they are duly authorized.
Fraud Policy
To provide assurances that any and all suspected fraudulent activity will
be fully investigated.
2.22 Suppliers/ bidders, who deal with NHPC are expected to adopt ethics of
highest standards and a very high degree of integrity, commitments and
sincerity towards the work undertaken. It is not in the interest of NHPC to deal
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‘Corporate Governance’
with Agencies who commit deception, fraud or other misconduct in the tendering
process.
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‘Corporate Governance’
BACKGROUND
Corporate Mission
3.2 The corporate mission of the company states – “Our solitary Mission is to
achieve Excellence in every sector that we operate in - be it Engineering &
Construction, Cement, Real Estate or Consultancy. To augment our core
competencies and adopt the most comprehensive modern technology to
overtake the obstacles in our path of achievement. To obtain sustainable
development and simultaneously enhancing the shareholders value and fulfilling
our obligations towards building a better India."
Corporate Vision
3.3 The corporate vision of the company states – “As a group, we are
committed to strategic business development in infrastructure, as the key to
nation building in the 21st century. We aim to achieve perfection in everything
we undertake with a commitment to excel. It is the determination to transform
every challenge into opportunity; to seize every opportunity to ensure growth
and to grow with a human face.”
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
The Board
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of five years) as this has the inherent advantage of not losing valuable
contribution from the Directors who, over the years, have developed insight into
the Company and its affairs.
3.6 The Board of Directors comprised 18 Directors as on March 31, 2010 out
of which 8 are Independent Directors. As per Clause 49 of the Listing
Agreement, in case of an Executive Chairman, at least half of the Board should
comprise Independent Directors. Our Board, which is headed by Executive
Chairman, earlier had 10 Independent Directors, out of which nomination of Shri
M J Subbaiah has been withdrawn by ICICI Bank Ltd. and Shri ERC Shekar has
since resigned due to personal reasons. The Company will reconstitute the Board
within the prescribed period.
3.7 Board Meetings. During the financial year 2009-10, Six Meetings of the
Board of Directors were held as against the requirement of four meetings. The
maximum time gap between two meetings was not more than four calendar
months. The meetings were held on following dates:-
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3.10 The constitution of the Audit Committee also meets the requirements
under Section 292A of the Companies Act, 1956 (The Act). The terms of
reference and powers of the Audit Committee are in keeping with those
contained under Clause 49 of the Listing Agreement and the Act.
3.12 The Board of Directors has laid down a Code of Conduct for all Board
members and senior management personnel of the Company. All Board
members and senior management personnel have, on March 31, 2010, affirmed
compliance with the Code of Conduct.
3.13 The Code of Conduct is the main driving principles for practicing ethical
corporate governance in the Jaypee Group of companies. It is intended to
provide guidance and help to all Directors & Senior Management Executives in
recognising their responsibility and dealing with the issues in such manner as to
achieve the objective of the corporate in an ethical way and to help to foster a
culture of honesty in the performance of one’s duties and accountability.
Act in the best interest of, and fulfil his fiduciary obligations to the
Company’s shareholders.
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Notify the other Directors of his material personal interest and must not
vote on the matter.
3.16 General.
All persons should avoid conflicts of interest with the Company. Any
situation that involves or may reasonably expected to involve, a conflict of
interest should be disclosed properly to the Chairman / Director-in-charge.
All persons should act and conduct free from fraud and deception. Their
conduct shall conform to the best efforts.
All persons owe a duty for not taking themselves personally, opportunities
that are discovered during the use of the Company’s property, information
or position, and they have duty towards the Company to advance its
objectives and interest.
All persons not to compete directly or indirectly with the Company and not
to disclose the confidential and crucial information gathered by the
individuals during the tenure of their position in this Company even after
resignation from the directorship or leaving the services of the Company.
All persons or their family members shall not accept any gift from persons
or firms who deal with the Company where such gifts can be construed as
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‘Corporate Governance’
a force to influence their actions and decisions in conflict with the interest
of the Company.
All persons shall deal fairly with employees of the Company / Group
Companies. They shall not take any unfair advantage of anyone through
manipulation, concealment, abuse of confidential, proprietary or trade
secret information, misrepresentation or other unfair dealing-practices.
All persons shall give full cooperation to their seniors, share the
information with them, if required, in the best interest of the Company or
for compliance of the requirement of the good corporate governance.
All persons must adopt proactive practices to promote the progressive and
ethical behaviour at all levels of the management and among other
members of the team in the organisation.
All persons must ensure that none of their actions obstruct other person
who is performing his duty as assigned to him.
All persons ought to report variation of any type in policy Code to their
seniors and all of them should give patient hearing to those who want to
discuss and criticize any of the issues pertaining to any transaction
assuming the same is in the interest of the Company. In case a person
feels uncomfortable in discussion of such matters then the person desiring
to convey his feeling should contact the Chairman of the Company.
All persons must disclose if any of their relatives or any Company or firm
in which they have interest is entering into employment or any business
transaction with the Company. Such disclosure of interest should be given
from time to time or periodically to the Company Secretary.
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CORPORATE GOVERNANCE :
UNITED KINGDOM
BACKGROUND
4.1 United Kingdom was once centre of world trade and commerce. With new
world order, it is still the sixth largest economy in the world based on purchase
power parity.
Origin of Corporation in UK
4.2 Corporations were first to start in UK. The early history of formation of
corporations with trading of its shares can be depicted as follows:-
1688 – 15 joint stock companies ( none with more than 100 members)
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‘Corporate Governance’
4.4 If we study the reasons of the aforesaid corporate frauds, we will come to
see some common threads in their failure.
Modern Evolution
4.5 Various committees were formed post major corporate failure in UK. The
significant reports are:
Turnbull Report-1999
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Role of Chairman
Non-executive Directors
Professional advise
Directors training
Standard of conduct
Directors responsibilities
Nomination committee
Internal control
Audit committee
Internal audit
Board remuneration
4.8 There are mainly three types of corporate governance model depending
on number of factors like country, region, political system, culture, population,
belief, ethics etc.
4.9 Anglo American Model. This model is followed in UK and USA. The
distinct feature of this model are wide spread shareholding and a great focus on
the shareholders. Ownership and management are separated and it has a single
board structure.
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‘Corporate Governance’
mostly the company is controlled and managed by families and therefore it has a
dual board structure.
4.11 Hybrid Models. This is convenient mixture of both the models discussed
aforesaid. Mostly followed in India and few Asian countries.
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IN UK
4.12 One can distinguish two post-war eras in UK corporate governance. The
first, during the 1950s and 1960s, was the era of management control, in which
share ownership was fragmented, family owners had largely given up trying to
maintain control over large firms, and the financial institutions had not yet
begun to play any important role. This was a time of generally slack
management but quite high R&D spending, by international standards. During
the 1980s came the era of indirect owner-control, in which the dominant
shareholders were institutional and they exercised a sort of control by paying
close attention to financial results of firms and being prepared to sell their
shares to hostile bidders if the offer price was right.
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The chairman is responsible for leadership of the board and ensuring its
effectiveness on all aspects of its role.
The board and its committees should have the appropriate balance of
skills, experience, independence and knowledge of the company to enable
them to discharge their respective duties and responsibilities effectively.
All directors should receive induction on joining the board and should
regularly update and refresh their skills and knowledge.
The board should always be supplied with right information for effective
functioning.
All directors should receive induction on joining the board and should
regularly update and refresh their skills and knowledge.
The board should always be supplied with right information for effective
functioning.
The board is responsible for determining the nature and extent of the
significant risks it is willing to take in achieving its strategic objectives.
The board should maintain sound risk management and internal control
systems.
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‘Corporate Governance’
The board should use the AGM to communicate with investors and to
encourage their participation.
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REFERENCE
1. www.nhpcindia.com
2. www.jalindia.com
3. www.frc.org.uk
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