Corporate Governance as A Mechanism for Fraud Prevention in Indian Companies: A Legal and Regulatory Analysis

The need for Corporate Governance as a mechanism that can provide an enabling legal system for transparency, accountability, and integrity within corporate organizations has become imperative, especially in emerging economies like India. The importance of CG as a means for preventing frauds, financial statements, and other types of corporate governance failures cannot be overstated in the wake of such incidences being increasingly witnessed among corporates. This research seeks to explore the effectiveness of CG mechanisms in India, considering their capability to prevent, detect, and handle any cases of frauds. It will evaluate the relationship between legal mechanisms, such as the Companies Act, 2013, and regulations from bodies such as SEBI, towards ensuring strong corporate governance. The research examines how important elements of governance, like independent directors, audit committee members, internal control systems, and whistleblowers, contribute to fraud prevention. The research analyzes landmark cases involving corporate fraud in India in order to understand how corporate governance failure and weaknesses contribute to corporate fraud. Some of the issues that the study will address include the problem of regulation and enforcement of corporate governance regulations, the problem of regulatory arbitrage, and the challenge posed by the changing landscape of financial crimes with the emergence of digital finance.