Attendance at board meetings improved in Maharatna, Navratna cos: Excellence Enablers

Navratna companies, have seen significant improvement in board meeting attendance by directors over the past four years, according to a survey by Excellence Enablers. The survey, which covered 13 Maharatna and 20 Navratna companies, found that in FY24, no director had zero attendance at board meetings. In contrast, in FY23, 14 directors had zero attendance. In FY22, there were 9 such directors, and 3 directors were absent from all board meetings in FY21.
The Excellence Enablers' fourth edition of the survey emphasised that it is a reasonable expectation for all directors, both executive and non-executive, to attend every board meeting. Absences should only occur for extraordinary reasons that could not have been anticipated.
While the legal requirement mandates that each director attend at least one board meeting per year, the survey finds this standard is clearly unsatisfactory. It suggests that directors who miss meetings for legitimate reasons should still be able to submit their comments on agenda items in advance so that they can be taken note of during discussions.
Further, the survey by a Corporate Governance advisory firm said, «the question of discontinuing the appointment of Directors who have had zero attendance in the previous FY should be seriously considered».
The survey, which analyses corporate governance data of Maharatna and Navratna companies from publicly available sources, also looked into other aspects of board governance, including board size, the presence of independent directors (IDs), and gender representation on boards.

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With regards to board size, the survey noted that the minimum board size was 6, and the maximum remained 16 in FY24. In comparison, in FY23, the minimum board