The Hindu Business Line : `Independent director must have integrity, knowledge'

IN a meeting that forms a part of Confederation of Indian Industry's ongoing Corporate Governance Series, Mr Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman and Group Managing Director, Bharti Enterprises, said, "There are two types of independent directors — trophy directors and technical experts. Any company's board has to be a mix of both. The person should have undisputed integrity and knowledge relevant to the company's business."

Independent directors should be capable of taking judicious decisions. Their ability to press the board to bring high quality management to the company is also important, he added.

"A big challenger of ideas is important to have on the board. Such a director provides inputs to help the company formulate ideas," said Mr Mittal.

While defining various practices and processes that would enable a Chairman to get the best out of the independent directors, he said, "a good way of getting the best out of the independent directors is to send out the papers well in advance and have every item of the agenda fully scoped out."

Speaking on the theme of the meeting Mr Mittal said, "It is important for the Chairman to manage the company in a manner that the independent directors are free to interact with the management and speak their mind."

The most important aspect is to make the right choice of people when appointing independent directors, Mr Mittal added.

Emphasising the importance of board meetings in the running of the organisation, Mr Mittal said, "If the board meeting is held only to take care of statutory matters it leaves little scope for the directors to contribute to the organisation". Therefore, it is important to dedicate few days in a year to this exercise, added Mr Mittal.

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