Corporate code relief
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) today extended the deadline for listed companies to have at least one woman director on their board to April 2015.
The market regulator extended the deadline to April from October as many companies were finding it difficult to meet this condition.
Sebi’s move on directors is part of an initiative to align its governance code with Companies Act, 2013.
As part of this exercise, the regulator has exempted some companies listed on the small and medium enterprise (SME) platform of the stock exchanges from its governance code “for the time being”. These companies must have equity share capital not exceeding Rs 10 crore and and net worth not more than Rs 25 crore.
Changes were also made on the tenure of independent directors. The earlier guideline stated that an independent director could hold office for up to five consecutive years and should be eligible for reappointment for another five-year term on passing of a special resolution by the company. The revised rule states that the maximum tenure of independent directors shall be in accordance with the Companies Act, 2013.
Sebi also made some changes with regard to the definition of related party transactions.
It allowed a company’s audit committee to grant “omnibus approval”, for related party transactions proposed to be entered by the company subject to certain conditions.