The article employs hand-collected data on 14 board characteristics for the period from 2004–2005 to 2016–2017 to empirically assess the evolution of board governance practices in the Indian banking industry. For this, we construct a comprehensive index for board governance and four sub-indices of board effectiveness. The study sheds light on how various characteristics of Indian bank boards have evolved over time. The mean value of the board index rose 33 per cent during the period of analysis, indicating a significant improvement in board governance practices of banks. The improvement in practices is primarily due to a considerable transition in the sub-dimensions of board structures and board independence. The transition in board structure results from the larger number of banks appointing different persons as CEOs and chairpersons; the change in board independence has principally emanated from the larger number of banks providing training to their independent directors, declarations and conducting separate meetings. Yet, our findings recommend room for further improvement in various aspects of board governance, including appointment of non-executive chairpersons, female directors and board independence.

JEL Classification: G21, G34, C23

本文采用了2004-2005年至2016-2017年期间14种董事会特征的手工收集数据，以经验评估了印度银行业董事会治理实践的演变。为此，我们构建了董事会治理的综合指标和董事会有效性的四个子指标。该研究揭示了印度银行业董事会的各种特征是如何随着时间演变的。在分析期间，董事会指数的平均值上升了33％，这表明银行的董事会治理实践有了显着改善。惯例方面的改进主要是由于董事会结构和董事会独立性方面的重大转变。董事会结构的转变是由于越来越多的银行任命了不同的人担任首席执行官和董事长；董事会独立性的变化主要源于更多的银行为其独立董事提供培训，声明并进行单独的会议。然而，我们的发现建议在董事会治理的各个方面都有进一步改善的空间，包括任命非执行董事长，女性董事和董事会独立性。

JEL分类： G21，G34，C23