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WB to prepare white paper on India's corporate governance

The World Bank will come out with a white paper on India in June next year in respect of its compliance with international corporate governance as prescribed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, according to World Bank executive and programme coordinator Olivier Fremond.

The bank's assessment will have a bearing on its fund allocation.

Addressing a select press conference at the fourth Asian Round-Table on corporate governance here, he said the World Bank along with OECD and International Finance Corporation has urged the Indian authorities to allow them to make an assessment on the progress made by the country in corporate governance and other policy framework.

The last assessment had been made in 2000 and after that India had made several changes and upgradation in its policy and prescribed norms on corporate governance.

''We are meeting various government officials, regulatory bodies and market participants to consider an assessment that would help in allocating funds,'' said Fremond.

This assessment will help the 21-member OECD to make their future investment decision in India. Recently, the World Bank, OCED and IFC made such assessments in countries like Russia, Indonesia and in East European and Latin American countries. OECD's Corporate Affairs division head Mats Isaksson said, ''We just initiated a dialogue with Chinese authorities, but not much have been done.''

When asked about the failure of US corporate giants in recent months, he said that corporate governance norms are the same for all nations including the US. According to him, the fundamental problem was enforcement of corporate laws.

Even the corporates in USA and UK are not fully compliant to OECD's corporate governance norms.

After the 1997 Asian crisis, he said, international agencies are seriously working with the respective governments to frame a strong regulatory framework. This is necessary to create confidence among international investors and corporates to infuse capital and grants in various projects.

WB and International Finance Corporation have a multi-dollar trust fund for giving grants or aid to government organisations for implementing the action plan in respect of corporate governance.

UNI

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