Free Press Journal & CareEdge honour 8 companies for excellence, clarity & transparency
The winners were recognised for delivering excellence, transparency and clarity in the annual reports that helps investors make the best decisions
The Free Press Journal along with its knowledge partner CareEdge presented India's Best Annual Report Awards 2023 on April 26 in a function held to recognise and reward the best annual reports by companies across 8 sectors. The winners were recognised for delivering excellence, transparency and clarity in the annual reports that helps investors make the best decisions. This was the second edition of India's Best Annual Report Awards 2023.
The award ceremony also celebrated and honoured former SEBI chairman, M Damodaran with the Lifetime Achievement Award. The award was bestowed on him for his relentless efforts in the field of corporate governance and for advocating transparency and clarity in annual reports by companies.
"This category of awards, the best annual reports, needs to be publicised much more. Corporate India must get the message that there are people who read the reports and that there is a requirement to improve. Companies must put themselves in the shoes of the persons who are reading the report. The next challenge for those writing the reports should be, 'How do you get people to write the report that people want to read?' FPJ is doing a phenomenal job and it is a privilege to be associated with them for this noble exercise.", says M Damodaran, Former SEBI Chairperson and Jury Chair
The award ceremony held to celebrate and award companies with the best annual reports began on a musical note with Rajeev Raja, Founder & Soundsmith, BrandMusiq, exploring and exhibiting the unique relationship shared between brands and music. He also spoke and illustrated about the concept of "MOGO" or musical logos. The performance as well as the informative session was well received by the audience.
The audience and company representatives were welcomed by Abhishek Karnani, President, Press Journal. Abhishek Karnani highlighted The Free Press Journal's (FPJ) mission to keep the city of Mumbai and society informed. He also spoke on the various initiatives undertaken by the FPJ and the pioneering work by the organisation in the field of education.
Revati Kasture, Executive Director of Care Edge, conveyed that the jury, led by Shri Damodaran, former SEBI chairperson, carefully scrutinized the simplicity and investor friendliness of the annual reports. The jury meticulously examined the processes employed by Care Edge ratings. Discussions spanned from perceptual analysis to factual examination of presented data to determine the winners.
The names of the companies along with their respective sectors awarded for India's Best Annual Report Awards 2023 are as follows:
- Banking - The State Bank Of India
- Chemicals - Tata Chemicals Ltd.
- Electronic Equipment - Havells India Ltd
- Fertilisers - Paradeep Phosphates Ltd
- Paints - Asian Paints
- Steel and Iron Product - JSW Steel
- Insurance - ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Ltd.
- Oil Exploration and Refinery - ONGC
The winners thanked the jury for the painstaking research involved in going through the annual reports of companies, short-listing the best ones and then deciding on the winners.
The evening concluded with the lifetime achievement award winner and former SEBI chairperson, M Damodaran, speaking on the need to publicise the winning reports so that it is read widely by the industry. He thanked the Free Press Journal for the award and shared the mantra, "It is not what is said in the report but how it is said" that makes for a valuable annual report.
