Glass Lewis has submitted a response to the consultation paper from the Securities and Exchange Board of India on proposed changes to related party transactions (“RPTs”). The changes that Glass Lewis commented on relate to:
- Lowering the threshold for what constitutes a related party;
- Introducing materiality thresholds for RPTs for individual directors;
- Reducing the disclosure threshold of RPTs to stock exchanges;
- Setting temporal limits on material RPTs, as well as calling for the inclusion of independent financial advisors to review RPTs; and
- Improving the quality of disclosure to give more specific details as to RPTs that may have been entered.
As discussed in our response, Glass Lewis is generally supportive of the proposed changes to the RPT regulations. We view the proposed changes as being beneficial towards improving the disclosure practices of RPT of Indian issuers. We also believe that India could look to regional and other peer markets to enhance its RPT regulations, which would help to improve India’s corporate governance practices.
You can download our submission to the consultation below. For more information, contact regulatory@glasslewis.com.