Emerging Prospects of Shareholder Engagement in India

Abstract

The need for strengthening engagement between companies and its shareholders is being increasingly recognised over the past few years. Various authors have discussed about the role of shareholder engagement in enhancing corporate governance standards. The literatures discussing these aspects are focusing on developed countries. This study seeks to make a contribution to the debate by discussing the scope and challenges for shareholder engagement in India. Many reforms were introduced to enhance shareholder participation and engagement in India. The study explains the significance of shareholder engagement and the strategies adopted by shareholders to influence corporate policy. The study gives a brief overview of scheme of division of power between board of directors and the company in general meeting in India. It examines the statutory reforms introduced in India for promoting shareholder engagement in corporate governance processes. It also discusses some incidents in Indian corporate sector to examine the growth of shareholder engagement in India.