The facade of corporate governance and uncompromising processes within private organisations gets demolished every time a case of corruption comes to the fore. The ineffectiveness of these much-talked-about standard operating procedures gets easily exposed every time a larger-than-life corporate leader or executive flouts the norms. The latest revelations in the National Stock Exchange (NSE) case, where former MD and CEO of NSE Chitra Ramkrishna sidestepped all the processes in place to appoint a virtually unknown and unworthy person as group operating officer, once again proves the vulnerabilities of corporate governance procedures laid down on paper.
The NSE, which has already been facing allegations of giving preferential treatment to several brokers in what is now famously called Collocation Scam, is once again in the midst of controversy—this time for complete breach of internal procedures while appointing Anand Subramanian, a mid-level corporate executive, as advisor and later group operating officer.
Some of the revelations in this case are appalling and ludicrous. It has been revealed in an investigation instituted by Sebi that both Chitra and Anand were guided by a spiritual guru. While we do not know if that unknown person exerting influence on NSE bosses was indeed a guru, it certainly exposes the frailties of corporate bigwigs. We have seen in the past how greed and loyalty to political masters have led to corporate superstars ignoring propriety and morality.
In a cut-throat world of competition, maintaining the highest standards of ethical values is difficult. Killing competition, currying favours with people in power, favouritism, corporate espionage, etc., are not uncommon in a world driven by profitability, insecurity and the pressure to put up stellar performance every quarter. And while businesses have created wealth, generated employment and given a good name to the country, worshipping corporate leaders is not the best thing to do; acknowledging their contributions is good enough.