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Mumbai, May 8 The business and investment community in India was concerned about corporate governance even before the Satyam episode happened, a KPMG poll suggests.

The majority of respondents in the poll, which was conducted between November 2008 and early January 2009, felt that independent directors did not adequately challenge the executive directors and management in the process of discharging their governance responsibilities.

The poll had over 90 respondents, mainly from private equity firms, financial services and the manufacturing sector, said Mr Neville Dumasia, Executive Director, Advisory Services, KPMG, at a press conference here on Wednesday.

Around 64 per cent of the respondents believed that independent directors merely contribute towards satisfying a regulatory requirement. However, they felt that empowering the independent directors would enhance their performance.

Around 35 per cent of the respondents felt that weak oversight and monitoring mechanisms were the biggest risk to corporate governance in India, against 21 per cent who felt that the threat comes from management override.

Around 55 per cent of the respondents felt that weak oversight and monitoring mechanisms contributed to the corporate governance failures in the western countries.

The participants felt that enhancing the powers of independent directors, improvement in financial disclosures, strengthening the rights of minority shareholders through statute, separation of the post of Chairman and CEO and improvement in risk management and oversight process would help improve the corporate governance standards.

More Stories on : Corporate Governance | Management | Events

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