Ownership Trends in Corporate India 2001-2011: Evidence and Implications

Abstract

The corporation as a preferred business format for large (and/or) risky ventures has come to stay as a global phenomenon. Societies around the world (represented by their governments) have facilitated and encouraged their growth as instruments of their own wellbeing and competitive advantage among the comity of nations. As vehicles of private enterprise and personal enrichment, corporations can be at cross purposes with societal expectations of how they are to be run, especially in terms of their positive contributions and negative costs of operation. Ownership and control of corporations under the watchful stewardship and surveillance of their boards have a significant influence in shaping corporate behavior and the equitable management of relationships between and among themselves, the society and communities they serve, and the governments of the countries they operate in. This paper tracks the movements in corporate ownership in India among its top companies in the first decade of the new millennium and moving forward in to the second. It offers a fascinating kaleidoscope of the changing political and regulatory environment driving ownership patterns in sympathy. The paper is organized as follows: section I provides a brief overview of the development of the corporate format of business organizations globally and especially in India; section II describes the sample and its categorization for analysis, methodology and other background information; and section III sets out the findings, interpretation and conclusions. An Annexure of a comprehensive set of statistical exhibits completes the presentation.

Keywords: corporate ownership, controlling shareholders, promoters, concentrated ownership, institutional investors, minority shareholders, corporations, corporate governance, India