Corporate governance in the Asian countries

Corporate governance (CG) has assumed greater limelight with the series of corporate failings, following which the markets, investors and society at large have begun to loose faith in the infallibility of these systems. Nowadays, the conduct of those who take care of ‘public’ money is being questioned since they are being tested on ‘ethical’ standards. The study has advocated an application of ‘Dharma’, as stipulated in ancient Indian ‘Shastras,’ to improve CG. Improving CG has been on the agenda for Asian regulators, with most markets having introduced comprehensive regulations. How to increase corporate governance transparency in the Asian countries is the major problem? The paper has provided an overview of two studies recently conducted by the Asian Corporate Governance Association (ACGA) and JP Morgan. No doubt, CG scenario has improved to some extent in the Asia region and some countries have made significant progress, the ethos of CG is yet to sink in. Moves are afoot globally to promote ‘convergence’ of good CG practices. CG in Asia remains, at best, a work-in-progress requiring some rethinking.   Key words:  Asian countries, corporate governance.