506 Int. J. Indian Culture and Business Management, Vol. 4, No. 5, 2011 Copyright © 2011 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. The changing landscape of corporate governance framework in India J.P. Singh,* Naveen Kumar and Shigufta Hena Uzma Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee 247667, Uttarakhand, India E-mail: jpsiitr@gmail.com E-mail: naveensrivastav@gmail.com E-mail: shigufta.uzma@gmail.com *Corresponding author Abstract: Significant changes have taken place in India after its independence, making the economy more diverse and complex. Among the fastest developing countries of the world, India is in the continuous process of upgrading its corporate governance (CG) framework to endow a transparent business environment. The present article makes an endeavour to retrace developments in CG in India from independence to date. The study analyses the issues and challenges posed in (1) the era after independence and (2) post-liberalisation regime and examines the development of CG during these periods to address these issues with a focus on the Companies Act, 1956 and Clause 49 of the Listing Agreement. The article also evaluates reforms proposed under the new framework of Companies Bill, 2009, which enables an opportunity for lawmakers to reassess the extant CG framework and initiate appropriate improvements that can reinforce investor’s confidence in the Indian economy in the aftermath of the Satyam fiasco. Keywords: CG; corporate governance; Clause 49; Companies Act, 1956; Companies Bill, 2009; board; directors; Satyam; auditor. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Singh, J.P., Kumar, N. and Uzma, S.H. (2011) ‘The changing landscape of corporate governance framework in India’, Int. J. Indian Culture and Business Management, Vol. 4, No. 5, pp.506–522. Biographical notes: J.P. Singh is a Fellow Member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and Institute of Company Secretaries of India and an Associate Member of the Institute of Cost and Works Accountants of India. Additionally, he holds a professional degree in Law and a PG Diploma in Merchant Banking. His research interests embrace corporate governance, corporate finance and accounting, quantitative finance and risk management and related areas. Currently, he engaged as a Professor at the Department of Management Studies, IIT Roorkee. He also has about 10 years of corporate experience as Head of Finance and Secretarial Functions of listed companies. Naveen Kumar is a Research Scholar in the Department of Management Studies, IIT Roorkee. He is a postgraduate in Engineering from IIT Kharagpur and is working towards his doctorate from IIT Roorkee in the area of corporate governance. His other interest areas include corporate finance and credit risk management.