- Securities and Exchange Board of India(SEBI) had set up a working group on issues related to proxy advisors in 2018.The group was headed by Sandeep Parekh.
- Proxy adviser is a person who provides advice to institutional investors or shareholder of a company in relation to exercise of their rights in the company including recommendations on public offer or voting recommendation on agenda items.
- The panel has proposed a code of conduct involving a comply or explain approach for proxy advisory firms wherein companies aggrieved by the view of proxy firms can approach the SEBI for redressal.
- The panel has also proposed that all proxy advisors should have a publicly available conflict of interest policy.The policy should have a clear approach on managing concerns relating to independence that could impact their recommendations provided to clients.
- The panel has also recommended proxy firms to have clear separation between the proxy voting advice to shareholders and the advice to listed companies regarding advisory services.
- The panel has said the board of proxy advisors should be independent of its shareholders where such a position creates a serious conflict of interest.
