Separation of roles of Chairperson and MD made voluntary by SEBI

"As the revised deadline is less than two months away, on a review of the compliance status it is seen that the compliance level, which stood at 50.4% amongst the top 500 Listed Companies as on September 2019, has progressed to only 54% as on December 31, 2021. Thus, there has been barely a 4% incremental improvement in compliance by the top 500 companies over the last two years, hence,expecting the remaining about 46% of the top 500 listed companies to comply with these norms by the target date would be a tall order," the market regulator said in a statement.

"Considering rather unatisfactory level of compliance achieved so far, with respect to this corporate governance reform, various representations received, constraints posed by the prevailing pandemic situation and with a view to enabling the companies to plan for a smoother transition, as a way forward, SEBI Board at this juncture, decided that this provision may not be retained as a mandatory requirement and instead be made applicable to the listed entities on a “voluntary basis”," added Sebi.