Proxy advisors test India Inc. and Jet Airways employees in a tizzy

Why read this story?

Editor's note: This is the eighth edition of Street Smart, The Morning Context’s weekly newsletter on everything that impacts corporate India. Every Thursday, Street Smart will bring you an original, reported or analytical take on issues that have the potential to shake up the business ecosystem. Prince here. Two recent developments, in very different spaces, got me thinking about regulations and how they are exercised. In the first, Jayshree and I take a look at the increasing activism of proxy advisors. In the second, Jet Airways employees are confused about an offer. Should they blame the Jalan-Kalrock consortium or the system? Proxy advisors vs India Inc. Companies don’t like being questioned.  Wipro didn’t, when proxy advisory firm Stakeholder Empowerment Services (SES) in June urged the IT firm’s shareholders to vote against resolutions to appoint two independent directors.  Similarly, I am sure the big names of the Carlyle Group weren’t amused when SES called its proposed takeover of PNB Housing Finance an “unfair transaction”. Market regulator SEBI even put the deal on hold. Some reprieve came from the Securities Appellate Tribunal, but one …