Page 14 - Banking Finance May 2019 N

ROUNDUP

Directors over 75 years march out
India to be second most
Directors over 75 years of age on the boards of India Inc were seen hitting the
exit door before the Securities and Exchange targeted for card fraud
Board of India's (Sebi's) new corporate gover- India will likely surpass the United
nance regulations kicked in on April 1. Kingdom to
become the
Directors who have turned 75 or more have
resigned from at least 228 companies in the second-most
past few months. Among them, 34 stated targeted
upfront that they were stepping down to com- country for
payment card fraud this year, a re-
ply with the new Sebi regulations. Others cited
personal reasons and ailing health, while many quit without giving any reason. search firm said, highlighting inad-
equate defense against cyber crime
Experts said most of the exits were linked to the new corporate governance at financial institutions in the coun-
code, which restricts the age limit for non-executive directors at 75 years un- try.
less backed by a special resolution in favour of the director's continuation. More
directors could step down when their tenure ends and they are due for reap- Over 3.2 million Indian payment card
pointment, experts added. records were compromised and
posted for sale in 2018, taking the
Starting April 1, a non-executive director of 75 years or more can be appointed country to the third position in the
or re-appointed only by way of a special resolution, which requires 75 per cent world in card frauds, Gemini Advisory
'for' votes. Moreover, an explanatory statement indicating the justification for said in a blog post.
appointing needs has to be given by the company.
In an attempt to make India a cash-
The new regulation is based on the recommendations made by the Kotak com- less economy, Prime Minister
mittee on corporate governance. The rule under the Companies Act that re- Narendra Modi has been promoting
quires a special resolution for the appointment of executive directors above the the use of digital payments after re-
age of 70 was the reference point for the recommendation. placing high-value currency notes to
GVK Power, Indiabulls Ventures, Godrej Properties and J&K Bank are among crack down on the black market
the companies whose non-executive directors have quit citing regulatory com- economy. But a rapidly growing
pliance as a reason for their cessation. There is a long list of prominent inde- middle class population opting to use
pendent directors who have 'retired' or stepped down from their directorship, cards for purchases and rising
citing the Sebi regulation. These include noted economist Y K Alagh, Y H internet penetration make India an
Malegham, R A Mashlekar, Vijay Kelkar, and Anil Dharker. attractive target for cyber criminals,
according to the report.
Next census of India in 2021: Govt A combination of lucrative targets
and insufficient defense measures
THE next census of India will be carried out in 2021 with March 1 of that year
as the reference date, the Home Minis- make many Indian institutions at-
tractive to hackers, the report said.
try announced. In a notification, the Min-
istry said the decision has been taken by According to the Thales Data Threat
the central Government under the pow- Report, 52 percent of surveyed In-
ers conferred by section 3 of the Census dian companies reported a data
Act, 1948 (37 of 1948). breach in 2018, compared with a
global average of 36 percent.
"The Central Government hereby declares
On the brighter side, 93 percent of
that a census of the population of India
surveyed Indian companies are in-
shall be taken during the year 2021. The reference date for the census shall,
except for the State of Jammu and Kashmir and snow bound non-synchronous creasing their security spending, the
highest percentage that Thales
areas of States of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, be 00.00 hours of the
found anywhere in the world.
first day of March, 2021," it said.
14 | 2019 | MAY | BANKING FINANCE