Corporate Governance Disclosure Practices in India: A Study of Select BSE Sensex Companies.

India is one of the countries reputed for best Corporate Governance laws but has poor implementation. Since liberalization, however, serious efforts have been directed at overhauling the system with the SEBI instituting the Clause 49 of the Listing Agreements dealing with corporate governance. This study proposes to examine the extent of Corporate Governance disclosure practices followed by the sample companies drawn from the BSE SENSEX (as on 31st January 2013) with regard to adherence of the clause 49 of the Listing Agreement, which came into operation on January 1, 2006. Published since January 1, 1986, the SENSEX is regarded as the pulse of the domestic stock markets in India and is one of the most popular stock market benchmark attracting investors from across the globe. Corporate governance disclosure practices in this study are examined from the annual reports of the sample companies. A list of 130 parameters [based on the list of items suggested by SEBI in Clause 49 of the listing agreement, and other non-mandatory items needed to be disclosed in the corporate governance section in the annual report] was prepared. Content analysis technique has been used to analyse the annual reports of the sample companies. The Study concludes that although the results are encouraging, 100% compliance in relation to adherence of the clause 49 of the Listing Agreement by the sample companies is not observed. Interestingly several companies have gone beyond the mandatory requirements in fulfilling the corporate governance objectives.