Inside Indian boardrooms

Boards sit at the heart of corporate governance, entrusted with guiding strategy, ensuring leadership continuity, and exercising vigilant oversight while balancing the interests of diverse stakeholders.

- AMIT TANDON

Over the past decade, India’s regulatory framework has made a sustained push to strengthen board effectiveness. In December 2015, Institutional Investor Advisory Services (IiAS), in collaboration with Vahura, a legal search and consulting firm, published “Board Effectiveness: Through the Looking Glass”.

A decade later, the Indian School of Business (ISB) returned to the same theme — using an almost similar title — in its “Corporate Governance Report 2025: Boards Through the Looking Glass”. This similarity of titles prompted an opportunity to reflect on how far Indian boards have progressed and where gaps persist.

Both reports point to a clear shift in the role and expectations of corporate boards in India, from a largely compliance-driven function to one that is increasingly strategic, accountable, and performance-oriented. While progress is evident, significant gaps remain between regulatory intent and boardroom reality.