Corporations should encourage whistle-blowing mechanism: Naidu

Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday said all corporate groups should encourage whistle-blowing mechanisms and provide adequate safeguards to protect whistle-blowers.

Addressing the online convocation of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) in Hyderabad, he stressed that it was important to ensure transparency and accountability in all matters of corporate governance to enhance the confidence of all the stakeholders, including shareholders.

Underlining the need to protect public money, Naidu said the system has to be foolproof to reduce the scope for any irregularity, according to an official statement.

Lamenting that the actions of a few have brought a bad name to Indian businesses, the vice president urged the young company secretaries to ensure ethics and accountability in corporate governance through their guidance and hand-holding.

Describing company secretaries as the conscience-keepers of the corporate, he said it was imperative for them to be upright and not succumb to any pressure from the management.

Naidu said that professional bodies like ICSI must ensure that corporate entities were not only professionally competent but law-abiding too.