Code of Conduct:
The Code is a guide
to professional conduct for independent directors. Adherence to
these standards by independent directors and
fulfillment of their responsibilities in a Professional and faithful
manner will promote confidence of the investment community,
particularly minority shareholders, regulators and companies in the
institution of independent directors.
I. Guidelines of professional conduct:
An independent director shall:
(1) Uphold ethical standards of integrity and probity;
(2) act objectively and constructively while exercising his duties;
(3) exercise his responsibilities in a bona fide manner in the interest of the company;
(4) Devote sufficient time and attention to his professional obligations for informed and balanced decision making;
(5)
Not allow any extraneous considerations that will vitiate his exercise
of objective independent judgment in the paramount interest of the
company as a whole, while concurring in or dissenting from the
collective judgment of the Board in its decision making;
(6) Not
abuse his position to the detriment of the company or its shareholders
or for the purpose of gaining direct or indirect personal advantage or
advantage for any associated person;
(7) Refrain from any action that would lead to loss of his independence;
(8)
Where circumstances arise which make an independent director lose his
independence, the independent director must immediately inform the
Board accordingly;
(9) Assist the company in implementing the best corporate governance practices
II. Role and functions:
The independent directors shall:
(1) Help in bringing an independent judgment to bear on the Board’s deliberations
especially on issues of strategy, performance, risk management, resources, key
appointments and standards of conduct;
(2) bring an objective view in the evaluation of the performance of board and management;
(3) Scrutinize the performance of management in meeting agreed goals and objectives and monitor the reporting of performance;
(4)
Satisfy themselves on the integrity of financial information and that
financial controls and the systems of risk management are robust and
defensible;
(5) Safeguard the interests of all stakeholders, particularly the minority shareholders;
(6) Balance the conflicting interest of the stakeholders;
(7)
determine appropriate levels of remuneration of executive directors,
key managerial personnel and senior management and have a prime role in
appointing and where necessary recommend removal of executive
directors, key managerial personnel and senior management;
(8)
Moderate and arbitrate in the interest of the company as a whole, in
situations of conflict between management and shareholder’s interest.
III. Duties :
The independent directors shall—
(1) Undertake appropriate induction and regularly update and refresh their skills, knowledge and familiarity with the company;
(2) Seek appropriate clarification or amplification of information and, where necessary,
take and follow appropriate professional advice and opinion of outside experts at the expense of the company;
(3) strive to attend all meetings of the Board of Directors and of the Board committees of which he is a member;
(4) participate constructively and actively in the committees of the Board in which they are chairpersons or members;
(5) strive to attend the general meetings of the company;
(6)
Where they have concerns about the running of the company or a proposed
action, ensure that these are addressed by the Board and, to the extent
that they are not resolved, insist that their concerns are recorded in
the minutes of the Board meeting;
(7) keep themselves well informed about the company and the external environment in which it operates;
(8) Not to unfairly obstruct the functioning of an otherwise proper Board or committee of the Board;
(9)
Pay sufficient attention and ensure that adequate deliberations are
held before approving related party transactions and assure themselves
that the same are in the interest of the company;
(10) Ascertain and
ensure that the company has an adequate and functional vigil mechanism
and to ensure that the interests of a person who uses such mechanism
are not prejudicially affected on account of such use;
(11) Report
concerns about unethical behaviour, actual or suspected fraud or
violation of the company’s code of conduct or ethics policy;
(12) Acting within his authority, assist in protecting the legitimate interests of the company, shareholders and its employees;
(13)
Not disclose confidential information, including commercial secrets,
technologies, advertising and sales promotion plans, unpublished price
sensitive information, unless such disclosure is expressly approved by
the Board or required by law.
IV. Manner of appointment:
(1)
Appointment process of independent dir ectors shall be independent of
the company management; while selecting independent directors the Board
shall ensure that there is appropriate balance of skills, experience
and knowledge in the Board so as to enable the Board to discharge its
functions and duties effectively.
(2) The appointment of independent director(s) of the company shall be approved at the meeting of the shareholders.
(3)
The explanatory statement attached to the notice of the meeting for
approving the appointment of independent director shall include a
statement that in the opinion of the Board, the independent director
proposed to be appointed fulfils the conditions specified in the Act
and the rules made there under and that the proposed director is
independent of the management.
(4) The appointment of independent directors shall be formalised through a letter of appointment, which shall set out :
(a) The term of appointment;
(b)
The expectation of the Board from the appointed director; the
Board-level committee(s) in which the director is expected to serve and
its tasks;
(c) The fiduciary duties that come with such an appointment along with accompanying liabilities;
(d) Provision for Directors and Officers (D and O) insurance, if any;
(e) The Code of Business Ethics that the company expects its directors and employees to follow;
(f) The list of actions that a director should not do while functioning as such in the company; and
(g)
The remuneration, mentioning periodic fees, reimbursement of expenses
for participation in the Boards and other meetings and profit related
commission, if any.
(5) The terms and conditions of appointment of
independent directors shall be open for inspection at the registered
office of the company by any member during normal business hours.
(6) The terms and conditions of appointment of independent directors shall also be posted on the company’s website.
V. Re-appointment:
The re-appointment of independent director shall be on the basis of report of performance evaluation.
VI. Resignation or removal:
(1)
The resignation or removal of an independent director shall be in the
same manner as is provided in sections 168 and 169 of the Act.
(2)
An independent director who resigns or is removed from the Board of the
company shall be replaced by a new independent director within a period
of not more than one hundred and eighty days from the date of such
resignation or removal, as the case may be.
(3) Where the company
fulfils the requirement of independent directors in its Board even
without filling the vacancy created by such resignation or removal, as
the case may be, the requirement of replacement by a new independent
director shall not apply.
VII. Separate meetings:
(1) The
independent directors of the company shall hold at least one meeting in
a year, without the attendance of non-independent directors and members
of management;
(2) All the independent directors of the company shall strive to be present at such meeting;
(3) The meeting shall:
(a) Review the performance of non-independent directors and the Board as a whole;
(b)
Review the performance of the Chairperson of the company, taking into
account the views of executive directors and non-executive directors;
(c)
Assess the quality, quantity and timeliness of flow of information
between the company management and the Board that is necessary for the
Board to effectively and reasonably perform their duties.
VIII. Evaluation mechanism:
(1)
The performance evaluation of independent directors shall be done by
the entire Board of Directors, excluding the director being evaluated.
(2)
On the basis of the report of performance evaluation, it shall be
determined whether to extend or continue the term of appointment of the
independent director.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF RECEIPT OF CODE OF CONDUCT:
I
have received and read the Company's Code of Conduct. I understand the
standards and policies contained in the Company Code of Conduct and
understand that there may be additional policies or regulations
specific to my job. I further agree to comply with the Company Code of
Conduct.
I also agree that I shall give an annual compliance report acknowledging my adherence to the given Code of Conduct.
Name
of
Directors
Signature
M. R. Sivaraman
Mr. Omprakash Kataria
Mrs Matty Vishal Dutt
Place: Mumbai