The elephant in the board room

The separation of the roles of the chairman and MD/CEO was bound to be contentious from the time it was mooted. Surprisingly, it took two years for industry to formally raise this issue

A few week ago, FICCI, an industry body, wrote to the finance minister, asking her to reconsider the decision to separate the role of the chairman and managing director/CEO for companies. This separation was bound to be contentious from when it was first mooted. What is surprising is that it has taken two years for industry to formally raise this issue. It is one topic that everyone wants to talk about but is yet to be openly discussed.

The corporate governance voluntary guidelines issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs had mooted this separation between the role of the chairman