The Hindu Business Line : Don’t miss the action

If you are a shareholder of a company and missing the shareholders’ meeting due to distance, don’t lose heart. You can take part in the action, from wherever you are, assures Broadridge Financial Solutions (India) Private Ltd.

“Our virtual shareholder meeting service on ‘Investor Network’ will help in optimising costs and offer the stakeholders an efficient way to participate in annual company meetings, with interactive communication facility,” says V Laxmikanth, MD, Broadridge Financial Solutions.

Talking to eWorld, he says, globally, Broadridge’s new service offering made its debut on May 23 when IT major Intel had its Virtual Shareholder Meeting and hosted a shareholder forum on the ‘Investor Network’ of Broadridge.

Investor Network is an investment-oriented social networking site designed to improve communications among shareholders and between corporations and their shareholders.

“This allows for aggregation across large pools of validated investors, thereby helping to direct specific shareholders to company-sponsored shareholder forums,” says Laxmikanth.

The $2-billion Broadridge Financial Solutions distributes over one billion investor communications each year, and components of its securities processing solutions are used by seven of the top 10 US broker-dealers.

proxy edge

“Our products, such as Proxy Edge (Voting tool), and other corporate governance solutions are a success in markets such as the US and Japan where more than 400-500 companies are using them,” he says.

Proxy Edge allows users to manage, track, reconcile and report an organisation’s proxy voting through electronic delivery of ballots, online voting, and integrated reporting and record keeping.

Indian Scenario

The regulatory framework in India does not yet recognise/permit the virtual shareholder meetings. “We are, however, lobbying for a regulatory change and are talking to the Government. We are hopeful about the outcome,” says Laxmikanth.

Broadridge is now planning to enter the Indian market with its Investor Communication Solutions and Securities Processing Solutions.

“The Indian market, as well as regulators, have shown interest in Broadridge’s products and solutions as they will ensure more transparency,” he says, adding the company has already spoken to four/five major corporates to offer its service on a trial basis.

Virtual shareholder meetings will cut costs significantly, says Laxmikanth.

The company has not yet worked out pricing details. It would be based on the number of investors participating and voting/proxy voting.

nagsridhu@thehindu.co.in