LVB: Past imperfect, present tense, future...?

What happened at the September 25 AGM is not just another instance of shareholder activism. With the mass ouster of not-so-independent directors, will things change?

To use a cliché, September 25 could become a red-letter day for India’s old private sector banking industry. On that day, at the annual general meeting (AGM) of 94-year-old Lakshmi Vilas Bank Ltd (LVB), its shareholders voted out the directors they felt responsible for the sorry state of affairs in the bank. They did not even spare the bank’s managing director and chief executive, S Sundar.

Ahead of the AGM, held on a Friday, proxy advisory firm Institutional Investor Advisory Services had warned the shareholders about the misgovernance of the bank. It had, in fact, recommended against voting some of