reasons. first, in india, old mindsets are being tossed aside in favour of pragmatic policies supporting reform and liberalisation, and integration with the global economy. india's market reforms have stayed the course despite several changes of governments and prime ministers. business leaders, too, are prepared to compete against foreign companies and foreign investors in india. early this year, i met with the chief minister of west bengal in kolkata. the state has been under communist rule for 30 years. the chief minister, one of the politburo members of the communist party of india ( marxist ), was keen on foreign investments. he told me candidly he did not look at " the colour of investment - be it yellow, red or white ". this reminded me of deng xiaoping's famous dictum : that the colour of a cat matters less than its ability to catch mice. the indian communists had drawn lessons from the fate of other communist regimes - the fall of the soviet union and the rise of china. they know they have to perform or perish. i believe that reform in india is irreversible, even though the pace may fluctuate. no matter which party comes to power, the government of the day will have to perform or perish. the indian voters have seen how china, which was once just as poor, has raised the standard of living of its people. and they want their government to do the same for them. second, india has many strengths, not least of which is a large pool of talent, including well - educated english - speaking professionals and workers. india has 300 universities and 1, 500 research institutions. it produces over 200, 000 engineers and 9, 000 phds each year. it also has a young population. what will drive india forward is sheer hunger - not the hunger that comes from poverty but the hunger for knowledge and success. the drive and desire of young indians to succeed is palpable - in top institutions like the indian institute of management ( iim ) and indian institute of technology ( iit ), or the infosys campus in bangalore. young members of parliament whom i met were upbeat about india's future. of course, india's growth trajectory will not be a straight line. development across states will be uneven. unlike china, power does not rest with one political party. the intricacies of coalition politics mean that time, patience, skill and political bargaining will be needed to balance different interests, and

to board and governance policies, procedures and record keeping. this was followed up with in - depth onsite reviews where we interviewed board members and executive management, focusing on eight key areas of governance : • • • • • • • roles and responsibilities ; board and committee composition and structure ; challenge ; board and committee performance ; board training ; board meetings ; board capacity ; and towards good governance in the financial system of aotearoa unclassified unclassified • conflicts of interest. we assessed the entities against our expectations for governance, as set out in relevant legislation and the reserve bank and fma guidance. where we did not have guidance on a specific area we looked beyond our internal guidance and considered international good practices to gain an understanding of what other jurisdictions and regulators consider when assessing governance. when forming a view on international good practice we looked to governance guidance from a range of regulators from bank of england, federal reserve, australian prudential regulation authority and oecd. good practices and areas for improvement we observed a variety of governance practices across the industry ; there were a number of good practices, as well as practices that were below our expectations. there is still room for improvement for most entities to ensure robust policies and processes are in place. some areas where we generally saw good practices included : • • • • • • • formal and clear processes for planning and formulating strategy. strong processes for selecting and appointing new directors and the ceo. boards being composed of a majority of independent directors. clearly documented succession planning for ceos and senior management. formal standalone conflicts of interest policies. formal annual planning processes and work plans for board and committees. regular education sessions for the board, including in - depth sessions on specific risk topics. while we observed good practices across the sample, many of these practices were not embedded into policies and processes, and those that were documented often lacked sufficient detail and clarity. through our review we have seen boards make positive changes to their governance structures, with their practices evolving over time. however, we observed changes which were not often reflected in the organisation ’ s governance frameworks. formalising practices into these foundational documents : • • • fosters transparency and accountability ; sets the tone from the top, supporting good practice being embedded into the values and culture of the organisation ; and sets boards up for success not only now, but into the future. in addition to formalising processes, some of the key areas for improvement across the sample included : • processes for selecting and appointing