Heavy fine imposed on these six government companies including IOC, ONGC, GAIL, know what is the whole matter.

Indian stock exchanges have fined over half a dozen companies, including public sector petroleum and gas companies Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and GAIL, for failing to meet listing norms. These companies have not complied with the listing norms relating to the required number of independent and women directors. The fines imposed by BSE and NSE on the companies have been given in separate notices. However, he also pointed out that the directors are appointed by the government, and he has no say in this.

Which company was fined how much

ONGC has been fined Rs 3.36 lakh, IOC has been asked to pay a fine of Rs 5.36 lakh. Rs 2.71 lakh on gas company GAIL, Rs 3.59 lakh on Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), Rs 3.6 lakh on Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), Rs 5.37 lakh on Oil India Limited and Rs 5.37 on Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL). A fine of Rs lakh has been imposed. The IOC has been fined for not having the required number of women directors on the board. Barring this, all the companies have been fined for violating the norm of having the required number of independent directors. The IOC said that the power to appoint directors (including independent and women directors) rests with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India. “And therefore the non-appointment of women independent directors on the Board during the quarter ended June 30, 2023 was not due to any negligence/fault on the part of the company,” it said. “Hence, IndianOil should not be held liable to pay the penalty and the same should be waived off,” the company said.

The company regularly takes up the issue with the ministry

IOC said it regularly takes up the issue with the ministry for appointment of required number of independent directors (including women independent directors) to ensure compliance with the norms for conduct of business. “We would also like to inform that the company had earlier also received similar notices for imposition of penalty from BSE and NSE and the requests of the company were considered favorably by the exchanges,” the company said. HPCL also gave similar information to the stock exchanges and cited the past record of stock exchanges waiving the penalty. ONGC said it has requested the government to nominate the required number of independent directors on the board of the company.