Corporate Governance: Policies & Guiding Principles, Venture Center India

About us > Corporate Governance

Venture Center’s philosophy on Corporate Governance:

Venture Center is conscious of the fact that the success of an organization is a reflection of the professionalism, conduct and ethical values of its management and employees. In addition to compliance with regulatory requirements, Venture Center endeavors to ensure that the highest standards of ethical and responsible conduct are met throughout the organization.

Corporate Governance for us is about conducting our business in a fair and transparent way by setting up systems and creating policies that ensure evenhandedness and accountability in our dealings with all the stakeholders including clients / incubatees, employees, government, vendors, donors, investors and the community in general.

We have strived hard to put in place sound corporate governance policies that ensure in way we conduct business. We believe that we have covered a substantial ground with regards to our policies and procedures since our inception in 2007. But we also acknowledge the need to keep improving our systems and policies in order to create maximum value for our stakeholders.

Here is the list of corporate governance policies that we adhere to at the current time:

Statutory Registrations:
1. We are registered with Registrar of companies as a Section 25 (Not-for-profit) company and we are a non-political, non-religious organization set up to promote entrepreneurship and technology commercialization.
2. We are registered under Section 12 AA of The Income Tax Act, 1961 which exempts us from paying Income Tax.
3. We are registered under Section 80G of The Income Tax Act, 1961. Thus donors who donate funds to us are entitled to tax benefits under Section 80G.
Others:
1. Board of Directors:
  Venture Center board members have vast industry knowledge and technical experience to contribute effectively to management of the company.
  1. Currently our Board has two members and we are in the process of inducting three new members by end of the financial year 2009-10.
  2. None of our board members are related by blood or marriage.
  3. Our Board meets at least once a quarter to review the progress of the company.
  4. Minutes of Board meetings are well documented and circulated.
  5. Our Board reviews the budgets, activity reports and audited financial statements and ensures compliance with regulations and laws governing the company.
  6. Currently, none of the Board members have remunerative roles in our company.
2. Policies / Procedures:
  1. Procurement: We have proper policies in place that define the complete procurement procedure, roles of various employees in procurement of various items, signing authority of various management personnel and so on. Our procurement documents are available our intranet site for the reference of all the employees.
  2. HR: We are equal opportunity provider and we are committed to promote diversity in the workforce. We have a formal organizational structure which clearly demarcates the roles and functions of various employees. We also have a comprehensive HR policy for hiring, compensation, increments, promotion, termination, etc. We provide appointment letter to all our employees with detailed terms of employment.
  3. Finance: Our accounts are prepared on accrual basis and audited by both internal as well as external auditors. We file our tax returns on timely basis and we also submit the service tax that we collect from our clients in timely manner to the concerned authorities.
    All our financial policies and procedures are well documented and all are available for employees to refer to at any time. We also circulate our Annual Report to our stakeholders at the end of year.
  4. Marketing: Detailed description of all our services is available on our website. The description also includes the pricing information, what each particular service includes, any discounts available to different kinds of customers etc.
  5. Donations: Since we accept donations towards our activities, we provide timely and relevant feedback to all the donors regarding our activities and how the funds were utilized. This feedback includes information regarding expenses incurred, outcomes and achievements and any other information that may be asked for.
  6. Incubatees: As an incubator, we have formal entry process for potential companies / clients to adhere in order to be incubated by us. We are creating a graduation policy for the current incubatees so that new companies can benefit from our services. We also evaluate our policies yearly to fill any gaps in services and increase the potential benefit that an incubatee can get from us.

About us > Corporate Governance

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