The event, attended by over 100 delegates representing SMEs, was held under the aegis of the National Foundation for Corporate Governance and supported by ASSOCHAM
13 March, 2023, Bengaluru: The Centre for Corporate Governance and Citizenship (CCGC) at IIM Bangalore hosted a one-day programme on ‘Fostering Growth through Good Governance’ on 10th March 2023 (Friday). The event was aimed to enhance organizational effectiveness towards overall performance, governance aspects, ethical business conduct and reporting beyond compliance that leads to sustainable growth of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
The programme, attended by more than 100 delegates from different sectors representing Small and Medium Enterprises, was held under the aegis of the National Foundation for Corporate Governance (NFCG), Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India. The event was supported by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM).
The keynote address at the inaugural session was delivered by Venkatraman Narayanan, Managing Director & CFO, Happiest Mind Technologies Ltd. He spoke about his organization’s journey towards its mission, vision, values, culture and social responsibility, with a special emphasis on environmental responsibility and driving inclusivity in the workplace along with maintaining a high standard of governance practices. Prof. Padmini Srinivasan, Chairperson, Centre for Corporate Governance and Citizenship, IIM Bangalore, highlighted the role of CCGC in promoting good governance practices through its research, advocacy, capability building programmes and best practices sharing sessions. She also spoke about the importance of governance imperatives for SMEs in today’s context.
Preeti Malhotra, Chairperson, ASSOCHAM National Council for Corporate Affairs, Company Law and Corporate Governance; Chairman, Smart Bharat Group, and Past President, ICSI, discussed the increasing relevance of corporate governance in today’s business environment, how governance in SMEs would enable organizations’ robust growth and the various regulatory measures taken by the regulatory agencies in this regard.
The inaugural session was followed by a session addressed by Prof. S Raghunath, former faculty in the Strategy area of IIM Bangalore and Chairman of the South Asia Board of the Academy of International Business, on ‘Building a Credible and Self-motivated Professionally Governed Board in SMEs’.
Ramesh Jude Thomas, President and Chief Executive Officer, EQUiTOR Value Advisory; V. Sreedharan, Member, Founder and Partner, V. Sreedharan & Associates; Mukesh Khanna, Head – Strategy and Key Initiatives, Tally Solutions Pvt. Ltd., and Moulinath Ganguli, Director, Sales, M1xchange, participated in a panel discussion, which deliberated upon maintaining integrity while managing working capital/liquidity in the e-invoicing and bill discounting era; ESG for SMEs for long-term growth, and taking businesses to the next level through tackling major issues as part of strategies within budgets.
CCGC Chairperson Prof. Padmini Srinivasan, faculty in the Finance & Accounting area of IIMB, further discussed the role of the Board and promoters in a technological and financial reporting environment, how to put in place high standards of policies, practices and a culture of governance in an organization, and preparing organizations for managing risks.
Prof. Anil B Suraj, faculty of Public Policy and Chairperson, N.S. Ramaswamy Pre-doctoral Fellowship (NSR Pre-doc), IIM Bangalore, touched upon various aspects of legal, compliance bound duties and risks of liability of organizations.
The concluding session on ‘Succession Planning’ was led by Deepa Agarwal, Chartered Accountant; Member, Accounting Standards Board (ASB), The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. The session on ‘Managing Talent and Maintaining High Level of Governance’ was conducted by Manoj Kumar Sharma, Senior Executive Vice President and CHRO at Adani Electricity Mumbai.
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