Institutional Investors: Many More Voices Now

At least 75 resolutions have been taken by institutional investors, who have been defeated in recent years. This may seem insignificant given the thousands of resolutions put to the vote each day.

However, it is rare for non-promoter shareholders to question the actions of the directorates. Most of these are related to changes in board members, while related party transactions represent a significant portion of rejected resolutions. The companies saw the RPT resolutions rejected after the rules required it by majority of minority votes.

Some of these were related party transactions, including those of Raymond, Finolex Cables, Kolte Patil and Dishman Pharma. Others have had to do with loans such as those of Zee Entertainment and the resolutions proposed by the directorates for the appointment of directors of Bharat Electronics and Sintex were also opposed.

Traditionally, institutional investors – foreign portfolio investors (REITs), mutual funds, insurers and pensioners – have tended to abstain and simply unload the stock when they were dissatisfied with company policies.

As a result, very few resolutions were defeated. In 2016-17, the number of IPF abstentions was almost nil, while the number of pension funds and pension funds was down 11% from 24% in 2014-2015.

However, the participation of retail investors remains low; the average participation rate of non-institutional investors is about 17 to 19%

In August, about 56.5% of the votes of the institutions were opposed to the resolution to renew Neeraj Kanwar to the post of general manager of Apollo Tires. The special resolution was rejected by 48.8% of the small investors who voted against the new appointment.

Once again, a majority of Suzlon Energy 's public shareholders voted against special resolutions providing for the raising of RS 2,000 crore by issuing shares and raising 900 crores of capital. through non-convertible debentures or non-equity related instruments, based on a regulatory filing with the Company. Of the institutional investors, holders of 65.64 crores of shares participated in the vote and among them holders of 22.39 crores of shares (34.093%) voted against the special resolution on exercise plans fund of 2,000 crores.

Hinduja Global Solutions, proposed a resolution to approve stock appreciation rights to employees of the company's subsidiaries. However, this proposal was rejected by 86% of the votes. Again, in the UPL, a proposal to approve stock options for employees of subsidiaries' employees was rejected and 34% voted against. – FE

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