The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) is set to introduce a stewardship code for institutional investors in September this year to promote responsible investment.
ICSI is currently working on developing a stewardship code or principles for domestic and international institutional investors, which would include compliance with Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) factors.
“The Stewardship Code is for institutional investors. It is about responsible investment with special focus on environmental sustainability. It is voluntary and not mandatory for domestic and foreign institutional investors. It is expected that institutional investors will take note of the code and principles,” ICSI Chairman B Narasimhan said here on Friday.
ICSI Executive Director Ashish Mohan said the institute is working on preparing a code so that investments also move towards sustainability. “There are a lot of large institutional investors, both in India and abroad. They are putting money into various companies in India. Earlier, these investors were mainly looking at return on equity (ROE) or return on investment (ROI). Now the trend of all these investors has also shifted towards sustainability. Companies should be run in a sustainable manner and there must be ESG compliance so that resources are used in a way that also takes into account the benefit of future generations,” Mohan said, adding that ICSI will introduce stewardship principles and ensure investors follow these principles while investing in companies.
According to Mohan, ICSI will be the first Indian institution to introduce voluntary stewardship principles. “We will come out with a code in September, which will serve as a guideline for investors,” Mohan said.Business Line.
He further added that in future, it is expected that many Indian companies will be ranked on the basis of stewardship principles and ESG performance.
