Bangalore: Indian corporate offices do not provide a conducive environment to Whistle-blowers, as opposed to Western nations. Though a couple of Indian corporates foster the policy of whistle-blowing, majority of the corporates still treat this phenomenon as a taboo.

The government of India had introduced the Whistle-blower Law in the year 2009 under the Right to Information (RTI) Act and is planning to introduce an ombudsman to sustain and upgrade this law. However, whistle-blowing already existed in the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) and Clause 49 of the Listing Agreement recognizes whistle-blowing as a non-mandatory requirement.

Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has laid down a few guidelines for corporates to follow the practice of whistle-blowing. These guidelines pertaining to whistle-blowing were mandatory in the beginning but have been changed to a non-mandatory requirement now. SEBI talks of how having a whistle-blowing policy would constitute a mechanism for the employees of an organization to inform about any wrong-doing or misconduct on the part of the members of the organization. This mechanism can also make way for employees to directly approach their Chairman of the Audit Committee in grave cases.

There are various Indian organizations which have embraced the concept of whistle-blowing such as Wipro, Infosys, Dabur, ICICI, Tata Motors, DLF and Maruti Suzuki India. Whistle-blowing is regarded as a managerial tool to check unethical activities in an organization. Tata Group states the following in its Whistle-blower Policy, “Every employee of a Tata Company shall promptly report to the management any actual or possible violation of the Code or an event he becomes aware of that could affect the business or reputation of his or any other Tata Company.” This policy is based on the Tata Code of Conduct.