Stewardship code aims greater investor, India Inc engagement. Will it work?

Stewardship responsibilities include engaging investee companies on ma­tters ranging from corporate governance and financial performance to capital structure and strategy

In 2014, seven domestic mutual funds (MFs) came together to oppose Maruti Suzuki’s plan to set up a plant in Gujarat. In 2017, a bunch of institutional shareholders wrote to Infosys seeking the return of co-founder Nandan Nilekani on the company’s board after the sudden resignation of chief executive Vishal Sikka.
 
Instances of shareholder activism such as these are rare in India. But, the adoption of the Companies Act, 2013, the introduction of e-voting, rise in institutional ownership of Indian equities, emergence of proxy advisory firms and the regulatory nudge to formulate a stewardship code are goading investors to