FINANCIAL REPORTING AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE IN INDIA: Evolution, Regulatory Architecture and Persistent Challenges

Author

Divyank Gupta,Dr. Arvind Kumar Singh

Abstract

 Financial reporting and corporate governance are usually taught as separate subjects, yet in practice one cannot work without the other. This paper looks at how the two have developed together in India, from the promoter-dominated, licence-era company to a listed sector that now reports under IFRS-converged standards, answers to a statutory audit regulator and lives under a detailed listing regime. It uses doctrinal analysis of statutes, SEBI regulations and committee reports, along with a qualitative reading of four episodes: Satyam (2009), IL&FS (2018), the Tata Sons–Mistry dispute (2016–2021) and the Infosys whistleblower complaints (2019). The question is simple: has a framework that now looks broadly comparable with international norms on paper actually produced reliable financial information and accountable boards? The paper argues that India has built a sophisticated rule architecture, mostly by adapting UK and US models, but that results are held back by concentrated promoter ownership, gatekeepers who are independent in form more than in fact, fragmented oversight and slow enforcement. It closes with proposals on independent-director appointment, the structure of the audit market, coordination among regulators and enforcement capacity. The study is doctrinal; it generates no new quantitative data, and its empirical claims rest on the literature cited.

Keywords

financial reporting; corporate governance, Companies Act 2013, SEBI LODR, Ind AS, NFRA, independent directors, statutory audit, India.

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