TAPMI in News

Shri Salman Khurshid, Union Minister of State (independent charge) for Corporate Affairs and Minority Affairs, delivered a lecture on ‘Corporate Governance’ to the BBA/MBA students of Manipal. This lecture, organized by TAPMI, marked the commencement of the Silver Jubilee Leadership Lecture Series, commemorating TAPMI’s 25 years of excellence in management education. This initiative is to nurture future leaders by providing a platform to the young business minds to interact with the great leaders of today.

Dr. Ramdas M. Pai (Chancellor, Manipal University), Dr. H. S. Ballal (Pro Chancellor, Manipal University), Dr. Saji Gopinath (Director, TAPMI) were present on the occasion along with management students and faculty of TAPMI and Manipal University.

Earlier, Shri Salman Khurshid visited TAPMI’s newly built scenic 44.11-acres campus and inaugurated the Rajat Jayanti Van (Silver Jubilee Forest), continuing TAPMI’s tree plantation program, on December 23, 2009. He planted the saplings near the academic block, and undertook a tour of the campus.

Prof. Saji Gopinath, spoke about the institute’s commitment towards a healthy environment and mentioned that this was another milestone towards a greener campus. Minister Salman Khurshid spoke on various aspects of corporate governance and its importance in today’s national scenario. He shared his views on the role of directors and regulatory authorities in improving corporate governance. He also elaborated on Corporate Social Responsibility and how companies must act responsibly, ethically and rationally towards society. The lecture began with the minister using Mahatma Gandhi’s model of trusteeship to emphasize the similarities between corporate governance, political life and corporate life and how greed continues to be the biggest bane of corporate governance. Continuous evolution of the Indian corporate governance model has supported the transformation, reformation and growth of the Indian economy after the 1991 economic reforms.

Shri Salman Khurshid advocated the need for taking corporate governance to a superior level in India through two models: the advocacy model, which involves all the shareholders by providing opportunities for them to learn, debate and discover right ways and hence lead to faster changes, or providing a framework for shareholders and the government to move in a particular direction through self regulation. The guidelines that were discussed during the recent India Corporate Week from Dec 14, 2009 to Dec 21, 2009, and the complete overhaul of the 1956 Company Act were a step in this direction. He also emphasized that the main aim of these guidelines was to facilitate the transition of the directors of a company from just being the controllers of an organization, to enlightened partners and regulators in the growth of the company.

The minister commended queries raised by the students of TAPMI for their quality, to which he responded in an insightful and simplistic manner.