The Directors' Collective™ Releases Comprehensive Corporate Governance Handbook to Assist India's Board Members

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Jan 19, 2016, 12:00 ET

MUMBAI, India, Jan. 19, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- After announcing its formation last week, The Directors' Collective™ today published a major resource for directors, general counsels, and company secretaries working to adapt to rapid developments in regulatory and corporate practice in the wake of India's adoption of The Companies Act 2013.

The most comprehensive and up-to-date reference tool of its kind, the Handbook on Corporate Governance in India: Legal Standards and Board Practices reviews all the legal and regulatory standards applicable to today's corporate boards, from their composition to their activities. It places recently introduced legal requirements in the context of India's unique business-ownership structures and its history of corporate governance reforms. With the terrain still unsettled, a concluding chapter explores open challenges regarding enforcement actions and the effective application of new rules.

"The Handbook collates the issues facing corporate boards in a comprehensive and consolidated manner," said Afra Afsharipour, Professor of Law at the University of California, Davis, School of Law and author of the publication for The Directors' Collective. "It captures the latest legal and regulatory developments, including significant rulemaking by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), in a field that has been shifting quickly since the enactment of The Companies Act 2013."

"The Handbook is the perfect foundation for the suite of knowledge and peer-networking programs that The Directors' Collective is establishing for India's public companies," added Matteo Tonello, Vice President and Managing Director of Corporate Leadership at The Conference Board. "The Directors' Collective was created to bring together the independent research for which The Conference Board is recognized around the world and the in-depth expertise that our partners KPMG, Russell Reynolds, and Khaitan & Co. have developed while assisting India's businesses. In the coming weeks and months, we will begin to roll out a number of thought leadership and benchmarking products to accompany this important reference tool."

The Handbook organizes its material by the component functions and responsibilities within the director's job description. These encompass:

The qualification and appointment process
Fiduciaries' liability and indemnification
The delegation of authority to board committees and the role and responsibilities of nomination, remuneration, and audit committees
The duty of overseeing an ethics and compliance program
Specific requirements pertaining to disclosure, related party transactions, risk management, and corporate social responsibility

To download Handbook on Corporate Governance in India, click here.

For an overview of The Directors' Collective, please click here.

About The Conference Board
The Conference Board is a global, independent business membership and research association working in the public interest. Our mission is unique: To provide the world's leading organizations with the practical knowledge they need to improve their performance and better serve society. The Conference Board is a non-advocacy, not-for-profit entity holding 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status in the United States. For more information, please visit www.conference-board.org

About KPMG
KPMG in India, a professional services firm, is the Indian member firm of KPMG International and was established in September 1993. Our professionals leverage the global network of firms, providing detailed knowledge of local laws, regulations, markets and competition. KPMG has offices across India in Delhi, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, Bengaluru, Kochi, Hyderabad, and Kolkata.

We strive to provide rapid, performance-based, industry-focused and technology-enabled services, which reflect a shared knowledge of global and local industries and our experience of the Indian business environment. Please visit: www.kpmg.com/in/en/pages/default.aspx

About Russell Reynolds Associates
Russell Reynolds Associates is a global leader in assessment, recruitment and succession planning for boards of directors, chief executive officers and key roles within the C-suite. With more than 370 consultants in 46 offices around the world, we work closely with public, private and nonprofit organizations across all industries and regions. We help our clients build teams of transformational leaders who can meet today's challenges and anticipate the digital, economic, environmental and political trends that are reshaping the global business environment. To find out more, please visit:
www.russellreynolds.com

About Khaitan and Co.
Founded in 1911, Khaitan & Co ("The Firm") is one of the oldest Indian law firms. The Firm combines a rich heritage of over a hundred years with modern, cutting edge and solution oriented legal practice and offers full service legal solutions to its domestic and international clients. The Firm has a strength of over 430 fee earners, including 103 partners across its four offices in Bengaluru, Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi. The Firm's practice areas have been widely recognised by various leading international rankings and publications including Chambers and Partners, Legal 500 and IFLR 1000. The Firm's Corporate/M&A practice and several other practice areas including Banking and finance, Capital markets, Competition/Antitrust, Dispute Resolution, Energy, Infrastructure and Resources, Environment laws, Estate planning, Trusts and Private clients, Hospitality, Investment Funds, Intellectual property, Labour and Employment laws, Private Equity, Real Estate, Taxation and Technology, Media and Telecom feature prominently in various leading international and Indian publications.

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