The U.S. administration’s experience in dealing with corporate frauds could help India in streamlining and strengthening its corporate governance and regulatory mechanism as the collaboration between the Indian and the U.S. governments, besides cooperation between public and private institutions, is all set to get a further boost.
“From the U.S., we can adopt best practices and laws to brings about more transparency in our corporate governance system, while the cooperation between the two nations can also help us in making our laws stronger and regulatory mechanism more efficient to help us deal with corporate and financial frauds like Ponzi schemes in a better way,” Union Corporate Affairs Minister Sachin Pilot said after his recent week-long visit to the U.S.
Mr. Pilot not only had detailed discussions with top U.S. institutions related to the competition policy and corporate governance like the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the International Finance Corporation but also paved way for stronger ties with the prestigious George Washington University (GWU) Law School and the U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC) at the Harvard Club.
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Referring to his talks with FTC chairperson Edith Ramirez, Mr. Pilot said they discussed ways to make the agreement jointly signed between the Indian Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Competition Commission of India and the U.S. Department of Justice and FTC last year more effective. “It was agreed that the concerned legal agencies associated with the enforcement of the competition law would interact closely as envisaged under the framework of the agreement. Officials on both sides have been asked to identify a few specific activities for cooperation and joint action prior to the forthcoming visit of Ms. Ramirez to India in October 2013,” he noted.
On the growing cases of corporate frauds in India, Mr. Pilot said both the countries have agreed to share data to prevent such frauds and discuss laws and rules related to the competition policy and corporate governance. “We want that companies should ensure transparency, particularly when it comes to their financial disclosures and dealings…we want to make our laws stronger and its implementation better so that people are not cheated as we have seen in recent cases,” he added.
“We also need to have more training programmes, promotion of faculty research, exchange of regulatory officers and training in judicial and non-judicial areas. One such step could be cooperation between the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) and other U.S. organisations for capacity-building and creating awareness about competition legislation among legal practitioners in both countries…International experiences covering global business environment, corporate governance and corporate/competition law can be a good learning exercise for the IICA,” Mr. Pilot added.
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During the current visit, Mr. Pilot inaugurated the Institute of Cost Accountants of India’s Washington chapter.