Corporate governance practices in the mining industry of India: an application of CG index

A sound corporate governance (CG) system in the mining sector ought to promote resource utilization while adhering to the principles of accountability and responsibility. In this case, it is curious that so little attention has been paid to understand the CG structures and practices of the mining industry. Therefore, this paper aims to unearth the CG practices of Indian mining through a uniform and structured CG Index. The paper develops a CG index to measure the CG performance across a range of CG structures. The data for this study was extracted from 2012-2013 to 2020-2021 for 11 mining companies in India. The sample companies constitute 78.23% of the total market cap of NSE 500 metal and mining companies. T-test was conducted to test the differences between the CG characteristics of the sample companies on various levels. This study highlights the CG practices within the mining industry of India. The findings of this study can come handy to assess the CG performance of mining companies in not just emerging economies but for the developed ones too. This study lays the foundation for future studies around CG practices, given its role in sustainable development.