What can shareholders make out of campus visits to companies?

The shareholders of Infosys will have a chance to visit the company’s Mysuru campus on November 24. Those who are keen to explore and experience the ‘state-of-the-art’ campus in Mysuru are requested to register on the company website between October 25 and November 15, the IT major has said.

“As the company can host only a limited number of individuals on this visit, shareholders will be accommodated on a first-come-first-served basis. This offer is open to shareholders only, and is not extended to family and friends,” it added.

The company will provide transport from its registered office in Electronics City, Bengaluru, to Mysuru and back, and bear the costs of the visit.

Companies inviting their shareholders to visit their premises is not new at the global level. Even in India, some have made plant visits a routine affair.

Bimetal Bearings had arranged a meeting of their shareholders to visit its strip mill plant at Sembiam, Chennai, in 2014.

In 2013, 190 shareholders and 29 joint shareholders had visited the Mumbai plant of Hind Rectifiers.

Nice gesture

This is a nice gesture from the company to involve the shareholders and make them understand how the business is being run or conducted.

This can even be recommended by the market regulator as a good corporate governance practice. The shareholder, as part-owner of the company, gets to interact with its employees, who can throw some light on the performance of the management as well as the company.

Shareholders should know their right to inspect the statutory registers at the registered office of the company.

Companies can improve upon visits by arranging an interactive session between visiting shareholders who can talk freely and air grievances with the management team that includes the auditors. Like AGM and board meeting minutes, even the minutes of shareholder visits can be disclosed to the exchanges.

The management can also allow the shareholders to raise questions post visit within a stipulated time.

Shareholders’ responsibility

On the shareholders’ part, instead of treating this as a fun outing, they should prepare well by studying all the necessary documents before visiting the company.

Shareholders of Infosys may not have much to see on product or assembly line, as it is a service provider. However, they will get to see the tech company’s people power in action, and no doubt, the picturesque campus will enthral the visitors.

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