Majority Of Private Companies Do Not Have Adequate Risk Management Function, Says Study

Nearly 67 per cent of private companies do not have an adequate risk management function, and over 52 per cent are still not equipped with formal risk management processes, said a report by risk advisory firm MGC Global. Over 50 per cent of the survey participants were affiliated with companies that reported revenues of over Rs 1,000 crore. 

It was conducted with an outreach to over 60,000 professionals in management and board-level roles in various sectors in India to assess the corporate governance on a range of pertinent practices in their respective companies, MGC Global said in a release. According to the survey titled 'State of Corporate Governance in India, 2023', about 67 per cent of closely held companies and 38 per cent of public companies were found to have inadequate practices for risk management. In addition, several companies are at risk of cronyism due to less than one-third of the board being independent directors.

This survey also found out that around 45 per cent of respondents from private companies have less than one-third of their board comprising independent directors. This could lead to cronyism and impact objectivity in decision-making. "This year, we had launched a survey with a wide and cross-sector outreach and had looked closely at the state of governance on the ground in an environment that has been witnessing a significant change in terms of the development and adoption of governance practices," said Monish G Chatrath, Managing Partner, MGC Global.

With data theft on the rise and with the advent of data protection regulations, such as GDPR, it is encouraging to see that 89 per cent of public companies have policies and procedures relating to cyber security and data protection in place, the report said. The survey also found that women are grossly under-represented on boards of 96 per cent of private companies and 51 per cent of public companies; shareholder engagement is restricted to annual general meetings in 67 per cent of public companies; codes of ethical business conduct were not published in 25 per cent of private companies; and CEOs, CFOs and HR directors play the roles of ombudsman in 41 per cent of public companies. 

MGC Global is an independent member firm of the $4.6 billion Atlanta headquartered Allinial Global.