Influence of Ancient Indian Scriptures on Corporate Governance Framework

CG has become one of the most commonly used phrases in the current global business vocabulary. It's a hot topic across the globe, these days and in India. It is the most talked about subject after the collapse of Satyam in 2008. Till about two decades ago, it was relatively an unknown subject. The subject came into prominence in late 80’s and early 90’s when the corporate sector in a number of countries was surrounded with problems of questionable corporate policies or unethical practices. In this paper an attempt has been made to explore the influence of corporate governance from ancient Indian Scriptures. In the Indian context the origin of corporate governance can be traced from different ancient scriptures namely Ramayana, Mahabharata, and Vedas. While this study based on the Kautilya's Arthashastra which was also written in 4th century BC.A qualitative research methodology, named hermeneutics, was used for the present study, in which Kautilya's Arthashastra, one of the ancient classical texts in India were subject to deep study and interpretation. The study reveals that various aspects of corporate governance, which is relevant today, were also mentioned in the Arthashastra.