Enforce existing corp gov laws than create new ones: Godrej

There was more a need for enforcement of existing laws than creating new ones for corporate governance, a senior industry captain said.

"Enforcement is important. It is no use making more and more rules and laws if you are not willing to enforce it," Godrej Group Chairman and Managing Director Adi Godrej said at a CII conference here today.

"Laws in India are quite strong. The first stage should be enforcing the laws that you have. Then you may expand them if there is a need," he said.

Corporate governance should be a "principle-based" system rather than being "rule-based" because then it would be hard to break, he said, adding during trying times people look for loopholes in a rule-based system.

The issue of corporate governance has been thrust into the limelight following Satyam Computers' Chairman B Ramalinga Raju's decision to acquire two firms -- Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties -- owned by his sons.

Raju has had to face a lot of flak from both investors as well as his shareholders over this decision and the subsequent one of not going ahead with it.

Having too many laws for a "small matter" is not a good policy because it constraints a corporation's ability to perform well, Godrej said.

"In the West today, there is lot of shareholder activism to bring about good corporate governance. And that helps considerably. I am glad to see that it is happening in India, too," he said.