The Hindu Business Line : ITC bags corporate governance excellence award

ITC Ltd has won the `Golden Peacock Award for Excellence in Corporate Governance 2005', instituted by the Institute of Directors, New Delhi, in association with the London-based World Council for Corporate Governance and Centre for Corporate Governance.

According to an official release issued by the company here on Saturday, the award jury, under the chairmanship of Justice P.N. Bhagwati, former Chief Justice of India, selected the company as winner in the `Private Sector' category. The award will be presented at the 16th World Congress on Total Quality on January 20, in New Delhi by the Union Minister of Defence, Mr Pranab Mukherjee.

According to a company statement, corporate governance in ITC takes place at three inter-linked levels — strategic supervision by the board of directors, strategic management by the Corporate Management Committee and executive management by the divisional CEO assisted by the divisional management committee. The company, it is stated, attempts to strike the right balance between freedom of management and accountability to shareholders by segregating strategic supervision from strategic and executive management.