This paper studies the voluntary corporate governance practices of the companies over and above the mandatory requirements as per Clause 49 of the Listing Agreement. In order to study the voluntary governance practices, a voluntary corporate governance disclosure index has been prepared. A total number of 40 items has been selected from the corporate governance section of the annual report for the study. A sample of 50 companies has been taken from four industries, viz., software, textiles, sugar and paper. Appropriate statistical tools and techniques have been applied for the analysis. It has been observed that the companies are following less than 50% of the items of disclosure index. Moreover, there is no significant difference among the disclosure scores of these four industries.

The concept of corporate governance has emerged as a result of shifting of objective of the corporates from profit maximization to value maximization through transparent, fair, efficient and effective policies of the organization. After the failure of corporate giants like Enron, World Com, Xerox, etc., this concept has assumed a great importance. Recent financial crisis in the US economy in September 2008, led to the failure of big corporate giants, like Lehman Brothers Ltd. and AIG Insurance Ltd. So the failure of these corporates has made it more essential to realize the importance of corporate governance. Corporate governance is basically concerned with the direction and control of the company. It deals with the issues and problems arising from the separation of ownership and control (Figure 1). The following definitions clearly state the meaning of corporate governance.

The most prominent definition is given by Cadbury Committee in its report. The committee was set up by the London Stock Exchange under the chairmanship of Sir Adrian Cadbury in May 1991 to recommend the improvement of the system of internal financial controls. Cadbury Committee Report, which was published in 1992, defines corporate governance as "the system by which the companies are directed and controlled".

Corporate Governance Journal, Corporate Governance Disclosure, Cadbury Committee, London Stock Exchange, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD, Business Corporations, Confederation of Indian Industry, CII, Indian Financial Market, Securities Exchange Board of India, SEBI, Bombay Stock Exchange, BSE, National Stock Exchange, NSE, Public Sector, Private Sector, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, CMIE.