Mr. Dinesh Mittal is a senior Company Secretary and a General Counsel with extensive experience in the areas of corporate secretarial, mergers & acquisitions, intellectual property rights, taxation, contracts and corporate laws. Mr. Mittal has Bachelor’s degrees in Law and Commerce from Delhi University and a Master’s in Law with specialization in Intellectual Property Rights from the University of Queensland, Australia. Mr. Mittal is also a Fellow Member of the Institute of Company Secretaries in India (ICSI) and has a Post Graduate Diploma from the Institute of Productivity and Management. Mr. Mittal has over 38 years of experience in corporate governance, indirect and direct taxation, corporate litigation & compliances among other areas and has held key positions at prominent organizations such as JK Group, Whirlpool, and until his superannuation recently, he was the Whole time Director, Group General Counsel & Company Secretary at HT Media Group. He was also a non-executive Director of various listed & non listed companies.
In this interaction, Mr. Mittal shares his knowledgeable thoughts on the dynamics affecting the Boardroom in an era of increased focus on ESG.
What are the challenges faced by Boards in integrating ESG considerations into their Boardroom agenda?
One of the main challenges Boards mostly encounter in focusing on ESG agenda items is the priority for operational and strategic business matters. This varies greatly depending on the business situation, compliance, and any specific initiatives that considerably affect the Company.
However, proactive scheduling of meetings along with sound agenda management can help to effectively balance ESG items with business matters. Embedding ESG into corporate strategy and objectives is the crucial need for business. ESG must be seen beyond a mere compliance but a necessity for growth of any business or Organization.
Do you feel Board performance evaluation can be leveraged to strengthen ESG practices?
Yes, Board performance evaluation can be a means to assess ESG metrics more effectively. The Board evaluation questionnaire can be thoughtfully designed around the areas of Board diversity, sustainability initiatives and ethical practices based on the industry as well as its regulations. The performance evaluation should also incorporate ESG criteria which creates organization wide visibility, clear accountability plus it guides the Board members to strategically align with sustainable development goals.
It is Board’s monitoring mechanism rather than evaluation, which serves as a strategic enabler in assessing the extent to which sustainability is embedded in an organization’s ethos and practices.
How do you feel technology can help with ESG accountability for Boards and leadership?
Once the Board and the management are determined to tackle ESG goals, technology can certainly help in many ways. Actions and responsibilities related to ESG plus business operations can be easily assigned and tracked using technology. It can also help streamline diverse agenda items such as ESG, compliances, operations and strategic initiatives more effectively and help with drafting of minutes Use of Technology can also speed up the reporting, review & approval process in any organization.
Since the overall stakeholder interests can be very diverse, how can Board leadership build a culture which puts a fair focus on ESG?
Board of Directors in collaboration with the management plays an important role in instilling a culture of ESG accountability. A fair focus on this can be built through clear drafting of policy, proactive communication as well as engaging stakeholders through transparent reporting. This policy should be approved but the Board so that there is a wide acceptance & adherence to it. Additionally, the Board can also seek help of external consultants in ESG reporting and training to the relevant teams of the organization.
How can innovation & Technology help overcome the governance challenges related to ESG compliance and reporting?
The use of modern technology such as monitoring software, AI analytics, & machine learning can improve information tracking in ESG reporting. These can be deployed in the many areas of the organization such as supply chain, manufacturing among others, which can in turn ease the overall reporting. Compliance checks can also be automated which can help mitigate risks in addition to improving regulatory alignment.
