CORPORATE GOVERNANCE: RELEVANCE AND NEED FOR INDIAN BANKS WITH REFERENCES TO BASEL COMMITTEE ON BANKING SUPERVISION.

Corporate Governance has fast emerged as a benchmark for judging corporate excellence in the context of national and international business practices. From guidelines and desirable code of conduct some decade ago, corporate governance is now recognized as a paradigm for improving competitiveness and enhancing efficiency and thus improving investors’ confidence and accessing capital, both domestic as well as foreign. Banks are also the channels through which the country’s savings are collected and used for investments. Corporate governance has become a dynamic concept and not static one.

Banks in India are the most significant source of finance for a majority of firms in Indian industry. Banks are also the channels through which the country’s savings are collected and used for investments. India has recently liberalized its banking system through privatization, disinvestments and has reduced the role of economic regulation and consequently managers of banks have obtained greater autonomy and freedom with regard to running of banks. Corporate governance in banks has assumed importance in India post-1991 reforms because competition compelled banks to improve their performance.

Basel Committee on Banking Supervision states some Key CG Shortcomings that came to light during 2008 Crisis include: insufficient board oversight of senior management, inadequate risk management; and unduly complex or opaque bank organizational structures and activities

This research examines the practices of corporate governance attributes in banking sector and how they adhere to corporate governance practices. The results of this research indicate the practice of corporate governance is at nascent stage although corporate governance practices by Indian Banking Sector are more than a decade. Private and public sector banks and also co-operative banks are adhering to mandatory requirements of corporate governance attributes as a result it is bringing more transparency and minimizing the chances of fraud and malpractices. The data were collected through various published and unpublished reports and websites. The paper reveals that India has a good CG mechanism and disclosure practices on par with world counterpart.