Separation of Chairperson & MD/CEO roles now voluntary

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has decided to make the provision of separation of Chairperson And MD/CEO voluntary which was earlier mandatory. Sebi said: "As things stand now, the provision for mandating separation of the role of Chairperson and MD/CEO of listed companies will be applicable from April 01, 2022, for top 500 companies.. As the revised deadline is less than two months away, on a review of the compliance status it is seen that the compliance level, which stood at 50.4 percent amongst the top 500 listed companies as on September 2019, has progressed to only 54 percent as on December 31, 2021". A committee was formed which was headed by Uday Kotak to frame regulatory corporate governance rules. The committee recommended that the role of chairperson and CEO/MD should be separated. However, after several compelling reasons from the industry leaders, SEBI has decided to make the necessary changes and the separation to be voluntary.