Government says no deadline fixed to execute Kotak recommendations

The government has not fixed any deadline to implement the recommendations of Uday Kotak panel on corporate governance, Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan said  on Tuesday.

Last week, Sebi Chief Ajay Tyagi said the report will be taken up at the next board meeting, which will be held after the Union Budget, as the regulator does not want to take decision in a hurry.

"As the said (Kotak committee) report is under examination in Sebi, the government has not fixed any deadline to implement its recommendations," Minister of State for Finance Pon Radhakrishnan said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.

The committee, constituted by Sebi and headed by eminent banker Uday Kotak, had suggested a major overhaul of corporate governance norms for listed companies in its report submitted on October 5.

The Securities and Exchange Board (Sebi) had sought public comments till November 4 on the 177 pages report.

Among others, the Kotak report called for limiting the chairmanship to only non-executive directors and appointing at least one woman independent director.

While the proposal for only non-executive director as chairman would eventually lead to a split in the post of chairman and managing director, the committee also suggested increasing the minimum board strength to six and the number of board meetings to five in a year.