The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCC&I) organized the first edition of the Corporate Governance Recognition on November 26th, 2022, at Williamson Magor Hall, The Bengal Chamber premises. “BCC&I Corporate Governance Recognition” was a first-of-its-kind initiative to recognise organizations that most closely adhere to the standards of Corporate Governance to foster a culture of good Corporate Citizenship. Both Services and Manufacturing Corporates had participated in this initiative. 

The Award Ceremony had an Inaugural Session, Panel Discussion followed by the Announcement of Awardees. On the occasion of the Award, The Bengal Chamber brought together Industry Leaders, Thought Leaders, Policy Makers, Academicians, and Professionals to build a knowledge forum. 

The programme began with a formal introduction and a welcome address by Mr Subir Chakraborty, President, The Bengal Chamber and MD & CEO, Exide Industries Limited, followed by Mr Jitendra Kumar, Chairperson, Corporate Governance & CSR Committee, The Bengal Chamber and Company Secretary & President (Legal & Corporate Affairs), Exide Industries Limited. The Chief Guest of the programme was Shri D Bandopadhyay, Regional Director, Eastern Region, Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

The inaugural session was followed by a panel discussion on `Revisiting Business and Corporate Governance`, and was moderated by Mr Harish Agarwal, Managing Partner, Ernst and Young. The panelists of the session were Dr Bhaskar Chatterjee, Former Director General & CEO, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs;  Mr Arnab Basu, Advisory Leader & Member of the Board of Directors, PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt. Ltd. and Senior Vice President, The Bengal Chamber; Shri Sachin Goyal, Joint Director (Financial Analysis), Competition Commission of India; CS Devendra V Deshpande, President, ICSI (The Institute of Company Secretaries of India); Advocate Vijay Jhalani, Government Nominee, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, and Former Government Nominee, Institute of Company Secretaries of India and Institute of Cost Accountants of India.  

The award session had the presence of an esteemed panel of jury. C. S.  Devendra V Deshpande, President, the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI); Advocate Vijay Jhalani, Government Nominee, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, and Former Government nominee, Institute of Company Secretaries of India and Institute of Cost Accountants of India; Shri R S Bandyopadhyay, Former Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Shri Asish K Bhattacharyya, Founder, Nonlinear Insights (OPC) Private Limited and Distinguished Professor, Shiv Nadar University, who took the lead in the judgment process along with PwC India as the Knowledge Partner. 

The awardees of the Corporate Governance Recognition under the Unlisted Large, and Small categories were given to Tata Steel Downstream Products, and Eduplex Solutions Pvt Ltd as Winners while Vikram Solar Limited received Special Jury Award under Unlisted Medium Category. Tata Metaliks Ltd and ITC Ltd received the awards as Winners under Listed Medium and Large Categories while Hindcon Chemicals Ltd, received the Special Jury Award under Listed Small Category.

The initiative was supported by Exide Industries Limited, CESC Limited, Anmol Industries Limited, Linde India Limited, Tata Steel Downstream Products Limited and My Kolkata – The Telegraph Online was the Digital Media Partner. The initiative was also supported by R T Network Solutions Pvt. Limited. The programme was greatly appreciated by the attendees. It was also well covered by the media.