LIC glare on firms bringing gen-next to board, top roles

Founders of public companies naming their scions as senior executives or board members may find the going harder as the passing of baton comes under greater scrutiny from the world's biggest public money managers, including Life Insurance Corp. of India (LIC), the country's largest domestic institutional investor.

- Varun Sood

LIC expressed its unhappiness over 12 proposals pertaining to the appointment or reappointment of the next generation of founders in 11 promoterled firms between January 2022 and 30 September 2023, according to a Mint review of LIC data on voting records.

Despite its strong observations, though, LIC, which manages ₹47,43,389 crore ($569.3 billion) of assets, did not reject all but one resolution, thereby saving the promoters from embarrassment. For this reason, all 12 proposals secured majority approval.

Take, for example, LIC's observations on the resolution seeking the reappointment of Sagar Adani at Adani Green Energy Ltd. Sagar Adani is the nephew of group founder and chairman Gautam Adani.