The Centre for Analytical Finance (CAF) at the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, India hosted a conference on corporate governance in India and other emerging markets. The conference brought together on a single platform the world leaders among academicians, practitioners, and policy-makers who share an interest in corporate governance issues.

Purpose
The spectacular scandals at Enron, WorldCom, and Parmalat have made corporate governance a priority issue world-wide. The USA enacted a new law, Sarbanes-Oxley Act, in response. Also, a number of initiatives world-wide have resulted in new requirements regarding corporate governance, e.g., Blue Ribbon Committee in USA, the Higgs Committee Report in UK, and the Kumaramangalam Birla Committee Report in India.
Regulators and policymakers need to consider the costs and benefits before making new regulations. Moreover, regulators in emerging economies need to consider whether legislation that is appropriate for developed economies is also applicable in emerging economies. Research from India and other countries can shed light on these issues. Accordingly, a conference that brings together top researchers, regulators, and industry participants can help further the corporate governance agenda.

Organisers
The Centre for Analytical Finance (CAF) at the ISB is the only centre of its kind in India, and is one of only two such centers in all of Asia. CAF has the experience and capability of organising conferences that attract top international experts. The conference co-chairmen were Professor Sankar De, Director, Centre for Analytical Finance at the Indian School of Business, and Sanjay Kallapur, Visiting Associate Professor, the Indian School of Business, and Associate Professor, Krannert School of Management, Purdue University, USA.

Agenda
The three sessions of the conference were each devoted to an important corporate governance issue. There was a panel discussion on each issue.

• Are there any special issues in corporate governance in emerging markets?
• Can family businesses and business groups have effective corporate governance?
• What is the role of institutional investors in corporate governance?

Click here to view the Agenda

Speakers
The speakers comprised several international experts, Indian regulators and policymakers, and practitioners from industry/investor groups around the world including Professor John Coffee (Columbia Law School, USA; Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences), Professor Franklin Allen (Wharton School, USA; President, American Finance Association, 2000), Mr. Uday Kotak (Chairman, Kotak Mahindra Bank) and Mr. G N Bajpai (ex-Chairman, LIC and SEBI).

Research conference
The conference on August 12, 2006, attended by academics, regulators, and industry participants, was followed by an academic research conference on August 13 and 14. The research conference was of greater interest to researchers, but was open to other participants as well. Both conferences were held on the ISB campus in Hyderabad, India.

Contact information For all conference-related queries, please send e-mail to Conference Corporate Governance or call Sumita Thakur @ 91-040-2318 7447.