Risk Disclosure Unlocked: Do Board Characteristics Really Matter? An Empirical Study of India

Abstract

This study investigates whether board characteristics influence corporate risk disclosure practices among Indian listed companies. The study utilizes sample data of non-financial companies registered in the North Indian region and listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), with the data sourced from the Prowess database. The results of the Fixed effect model and GMM regression suggest that there is a positive but insignificant effect of family ownership (FO), Government ownership (GO) and Management ownership (MO) on corporate risk disclosure in Indian companies, suggesting that whatever the structure of ownership followed by the companies, it is not significantly affecting the corporate risk disclosure in Indian companies. The presence of woman directors (WD), firm size, CEO duality and firm age is positively associated with risk disclosure. The findings provide empirical evidence on the role of internal authority mechanisms in shaping corporate reporting behaviour in India and offer insights for regulators, investors, and policymakers aiming to strengthen accountability and disclosure quality.