Indian Inc Needs Effective Whistle-Blowing Framework, Says EY

NEW DELHI: Indian firms are still to make a significant headway for having an effective whistle-blowing framework, as only a few entities are fully complying with the provision under the new Companies Law, says a survey.

The survey by consultancy EY also found that 22 per cent of the respondents had implemented the whistle-blowing framework because they considered the structured mechanism integral to their business operations.

Even though a majority of respondents assented to having a whistle-blowing mechanism, EY found that only about 13 per cent of them were fully compliant with the relevant provisions in the Companies Act, 2013.

Under the Act, certain class of companies are required to have vigil mechanism. "While many organisations had a policy in place, half of the respondents offered only one channel for reporting of complaints... Only half of the respondent organisations had implemented hotline as a channel of reporting," EY said while releasing the survey.

More than 80 executives participated in the survey that was done from April to June this year. The respondents, spread across sectors, were senior executives from various domains including internal audit and legal.

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