SEBI Chief Urges Company Secretaries To Anticipate Risks, Strengthen Governance

New Delhi: Sebi Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Friday asked company secretaries to anticipate risks, guide boards of listed companies, and uphold the integrity even under pressure.

Speaking at the 25th ICSI National Awards, Pandey said that as stock market participation deepens, expectations of fairness, good governance, and credible oversight increase. "Markets can tolerate business risk. What they struggle to tolerate is governance uncertainty, and as the market expands, even small governance lapses can have amplified consequences," Pandey said.

Corporate governance in listed companies is often discussed in terms of regulations, board composition, committee structures, and disclosure. But, governance at its core is not merely about procedural compliance; it's about credibility, credibility in how decisions are taken, conflicts are managed, and information is shared with investors, he said.

Pandey said going ahead, the role of company secretaries in listed companies will continue to expand not only in volume of compliance, but in depth of responsibility. "Capital markets will grow more complex, investors will become more deserving, information will travel faster, and reputational risks will materialise quickly than ever before. In such an environment, governance cannot be reactive. The future belongs to professionals who can anticipate risks, guide boards through ambiguity, and uphold institutional integrity, even under pressure," Sebi chief said.

Pandey said that when markets function smoothly, governance is often invisible, but when governance fails, its absence becomes visible to investors, to regulators, and sometimes to the broader economy. 

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