The failure of giant firms such as Enron and WorldCom, led to a series of efforts for improvement of corporate governance which deals with the appropriate board structure, processes, and values to cope with the rapidly changing demands of both shareholders and other stakeholders in and around their enterprises (Garratt, 2003). A major requirement of corporate governance regulations is to increase the number of outsiders serving in the board of directors of the companies. This article briefly discusses the regulatory framework of India on independent directors of listed companies and also reviews some literature relating to role of independent directors on firm performance. Based on the sample size of 20 companies randomly selected from Nifty 50 companies for the accounting period 2018-19 we make an empirical study on the governance role of independent directors on the financial performance of the listed companies in India. The study finds no significant impact of the independent directors on the financial performance of the listed companies in India.

KEYWORDS: Corporate Governance, Firm Value, Independent Director, Firm Performance, Companies Act, 2013.