The Hub the monthly newsletter from Independent Directors’ Databank supplements dedicated sections on continued professional learning that facilitates you to emerge as the “Agents for Change” in the boards. The featured stories in various sections cover regulatory updates, corporate actions and experience sharing by Independent Directors.

Setting in the Hub – December 2020 orients you on “Women Leadership in Indian Boards” through an IICA initiated Power Talk under “Directors’ Colloquium” by Dr. Sangita Reddy – JMD, Apollo Hospitals and President FICCI on November 06, 2020, where she elaborates how gender diversity is improving at board level though there are challenges that India and other countries are facing.

Vignettes has an article under “Scheme 1: Share with Us” … an initiative by Independent Directors Databank on “Learning from practice to inform practice” taking experiential learning approach. It captures the challenges as an Independent Director (ID) in role opportunity and context to transform these challenges into "Seven experiential suggestions for Independent Directors" … purely based on practical experiences in Boards.

Regulatory Worktop, has two areas …

1. Government to decriminalize provisions of LLP Act in upcoming Winter Session allowing LLPs to issue non-convertible debentures (NCDs)
2. Atmanirbhar 3.0: India Announces A New Emergency Credit Guarantee Scheme For Stressed Sectors … an announcement on the second iteration of emergency credit-linked guarantee scheme to support 26 stressed sectors and healthcare firms with banks to provide collateral-free, fully guaranteed loans to borrowers, on capped interest rates.

Regulators Eye has an article on managing a successful transition to executive chair, where the author spoke to few executives to understand how CEOs and executive chairs avoid the risks of having two prominent leaders… “When an Executive Chair Helps or Hinders Company Performance - Four ground rules for using the role effectively”.

Controversy developed as the Mauritius-based auditor resigned and refusing to engage officially with SEBI, citing an example of creating confusion among Indian companies with global operations ... “Can SEBI's rules be imposed on auditors of overseas operations?”

Recent happenings in our banking system is something we may need to carry it as a heavy baggage even to the future, unless some promptness is set and act upon a blueprint on how to fix it. Read this context in “Indian Banking Let Down By ‘Maximum Government, Minimum Governance”.

An investment philosophy gaining a continuous popularity is investing in ESG ... synonymous with sustainable investments to seek positive returns by engaging with ethical firms. In India, a number of mutual fund houses launched ESG funds … though no uniform standards for ESG yet! Get more insights in “ESG investments are fast gaining traction in India”.

Events Expo indicates various national and global upcoming events, programs, workshops, conferences, etc. for participation of the members

Nationally “10th India Finance Conference 2020 (IFC 2020)” from IIM-B: 18 – 20 December 2020 and “Digital forensics for cyber defense – a proactive approach” by Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology 28 – 31 December 2020 are both online events to join.

Globally, ICAGGHR 2020: 14th International Conference on Anti-Corruption, Good Governance and Human Rights by The International Research Conference, 28–29 December 2020; at Paris is gaining momentum.