- Key government sites
- Regulatory agencies and stock exchanges
- Pension and investment funds
- Accounting and auditing sites
- Professional organisations
- Business organisations
- Miscellaneous
1. Key government sites
Ministry of Finance: finmin.nic.in
A comprehensive and well-designed website that provides extensive information relating to the administration and functions of the Ministry of Finance as well as statistics and data covering India’s economic and financial position. There are also sections offering surveys and reports for download, a brief glossary of financial terms, and detailed guidelines for investing in India. A list of useful links to related sites is also provided.
Reserve Bank of India (RBI): rbi.org.in
The central bank of India. The RBI website incorporates a vast amount of economic and financial information on the Indian economy and its financial markets, including a database dedicated to Indian economic statistics and publications.
Central Vigilance Commission (CVC): cvc.nic.in
CVC monitors the Central Government agencies to help prevent corruption. It is not an investigative body, rather investigation is done through the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) or the Departmental Chief Vigilance Officers. It only investigates public officials, and is not responsible for the private sector. The website provides information on the operations of the CVC as well as resources, including archives, references, reports, and links.
Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI): cbi.gov.in
The Central Bureau of Investigation is tasked with investigating a range of offences from terrorism and hijacking to frauds in the banking and securities sector. A revamped site provides information on CBI’s history, jurisdiction and powers, judgements, their network, press releases and an archive section dating back to 2004.
Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO): www.sfio.nic.in
The Serious Fraud Investigation Office is a multi-disciplinary organisation under the Ministry of Corporate Affairs that detects and prosecutes or recommends for prosecution white-collar crimes and frauds. The organisation has experts in accountancy, forensic auditing, law, information technology, investigation, company law, capital market and taxation. The site, while clean, fails to divulge useful information. It provides the number of cases it has filed against various companies but does not mention when the cases were filed or any other details.
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2. Regulatory agencies & stock exchanges
Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA): www.mca.gov.in
MCA is the government body responsible for the general regulation of Indian companies. The website has seen a facelift in the past few months and now offers number of new resources to reflect its e-governance initiative, which it commenced last year, such as accessing public documents. However, to have full functionality, one needs to register with the Ministry. The website now also makes it easy to have access to the Company Law and other rules under its charter.
Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI): www.sebi.gov.in
The principal regulator for India’s securities markets. The website is generally well laid out, easy to navigate, and contains a wealth of data and resources relating to the workings of SEBI and India’s securities markets. Resources include press releases, working papers, speeches, and statistics. One major weakness is that rules and regulations are organised chronologically (with the most recent at the top) rather than thematically.
The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE): www.bseindia.com
India's main stock exchange. The website offers some limited research and statistical data as well as publications. A disappointing site compared to that of the National Stock Exchange.
The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE): www.nseindia.com
India’s second stock exchange. The website is far superior to that of the Mumbai Stock Exchange. Well laid out and easy to navigate, the site contains live feeds for world and domestic markets as well as extensive data and research resources.
Corp Filing and Dissemination System: www.corpfiling.co.in
This is the common filing and dissemination portal for all companies listed on the BSE and the NSE. While its stated aim is to provide "a single interface to the investors to keep track of the latest filings of all the listed companies in India irrespective of the Stock Exchange", it falls short of that. The site fails to break down the announcements into meaningful categories, only providing sections for insider trading; SAST; shareholding patterns; results; and announcements. The problem being that announcements provides a plethora of information from issuance of warrants to AGM notices, none of which are satisfactorily classified and easy to find without wading through a mountain of other information.
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3. Pension and investment funds
Employees' Provident Fund Organisation, India (EPFO): www.epfindia.com
The mandatory pension scheme for the private sector is managed by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). It was set up in 1952 and covers 180 specified economic sectors that employ 20 or more people as well as co-operative societies that employ 50 or more people. The management of its assets is outsourced to a select number of fund managers. The website is professional looking, however, it is cumbersome to traverse, with a number of the pages having external links, forcing you to open new pages.
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4. Accounting and auditing sites
The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI): www.icai.org
A statutory body for regulating the chartered accounting profession in India. A well-organised website that incorporates a considerable amount of research and data, including Indian accounting and auditing standards as well as publications and various working papers.
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5. Professional organisations
The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI): www.icsi.edu
The ICSI website provides extensive information relating to the administration and regulation of companies in India, but is extremely slow to upload. There is a section that details corporate governance best practices for Indian companies as well as information relating to takeovers and mergers. The site also offers relevant publications for download.
Institute of Directors (IOD): www.iodonline.com
The association of company directors. The site is rather messy, sparse on information, and while it offers links to related sites, quite a few are broken. The Institute’s monthly newsletter is online, as well as the Centre for Corporate Governance’s quarterly journal.
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6. Business organisations
Confederation of Indian Industries (CII): www.ciionline.org
CII, founded more than 115 years ago, is an industry association that aims to promote the sustainable development of Indian industry. In 1998, CII produced India's first code of best practice on corporate governance, titled "Desirable Corporate Governance: A Code". The CII website is detailed and is most easily navigated via the sitemap. The site provides information relating to the training services provided by CII as well as considerable economic and trade data on the Indian economy.
Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI): www.ficci.com
FICCI was established in 1927 as a non-government, not-for-profit membership driven organisation. It has direct membership from the private as well as public sectors, including SMEs and MNCs, and an indirect membership of over 83,000 companies from regional chambers of commerce. Through its 400 professionals, FICCI is active in 39 sectors of the economy and does in-depth research and policy prescriptions. It also has joint business councils with 79 countries. Its site is useful, clean and easy to navigate. All their publications and studies are available online.
The Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham): www.assocham.org
Assocham is a representative body for Indian businesses that was founded in 1920. The website provides data on recent and forthcoming events, including seminars on corporate governance and disclosure requirements, relevant news and publications as well as details of Assocham’s consultancy and training programmes.
National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM): www.nasscom.in
Founded in 1988, NASSCOM is the premier trade body and the chamber of commerce of the IT-BPO industries in India. NASSCOM is a global trade body with more than 1200 members, which include both Indian and multinational companies that have a presence in the country. NASSCOM’s membership base constitutes over 95% of the industry revenues in India and employs over 2.24m professionals. A not-for-profit organization, NASSCOM was set up to facilitate business and trade in software and services and to encourage advancement of research in software technology. The website is well-laid out, easy to navigate and contains information on the organisation's initiatives and publications.
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7. Miscellaneous
National Foundation for Corporate Governance (NFCG): www.nfcgindia.org
NFCG was founded by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in partnership with CII, ICSI and ICAI to promote better corporate governance practices in India. The website is rather bare, with research seemingly having stopped in 2008. The main initiatives that NFCG seems to engage in organising events with its stakeholders.
CRISIL: www.crisilonline.com
India’s leading ratings, financial news, risk and policy advisory company. The CRISIL website is packed with valuable and searchable data on India’s listed companies, including financial performance, shareholding analyses, and details of shareholders’ rights.
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