Stakeholder Relationship Committee

The board's complaints desk

The Stakeholder Relationship Committee (SRC) is a board-level committee that listed Indian companies must constitute under SEBI's LODR (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations. Its core job is to look after the interests of security holders, equity shareholders, debenture holders, deposit holders, and to resolve their grievances.

These grievances are practical and common: delays in transfer or transmission of shares, non-receipt of dividends, annual reports or interest, issues with dematerialisation, and complaints routed through SEBI's SCORES platform. The committee ensures these are tracked and resolved, rather than ignored.

Who sits on it and what it does

The SRC must be chaired by a non-executive director and include other directors as the board decides, with the company secretary typically acting as the compliance officer who interfaces with investors and the registrar (RTA). It meets at least once a year and reports its functioning in the company's annual report.

Beyond firefighting complaints, the committee oversees the performance of the Registrar and Transfer Agent, reviews the volume and nature of investor grievances, and monitors the steps taken to reduce them, in effect holding management accountable for how well the company treats its small investors.

Why it matters for governance

The SRC is one of three committees, alongside the Audit Committee and the Nomination and Remuneration Committee, that form the backbone of board-level governance for listed companies in India. Its existence signals that minority shareholder grievances are a board responsibility, not merely a back-office task.

For investors, the committee's effectiveness is a quiet but real governance indicator. A company with a large backlog of unresolved complaints, disclosed in its annual report and on SCORES, may be flagging operational sloppiness or indifference to small shareholders. Strong, responsive grievance handling, by contrast, reflects a company that takes its obligations to all owners seriously, an underrated marker of overall management quality.