Circulation of Companies Amendment Act: copy forwarded to regional directors and registrars for information and necessary action.
The Department of Company Affairs transmits a copy of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2002 as published in the Gazette to all Regional Directors, Registrars of Companies and Official Liquidators for information and necessary action, and requests recipients to acknowledge receipt and use the enclosed amendment for implementation and dissemination.

Debenture Redemption Reserve requirement for NHB registered housing finance companies applies to public debentures but not to private placements.
Clarification of the Debenture Redemption Reserve (DRR) for housing finance companies registered under the housing finance directions: adequacy of DRR for debentures issued through public issues is fixed at fifty percent of the value of such debentures, while no DRR is required for privately placed debentures issued by those companies.

Amendment to company forms updates filing requirements; notification circulated for compliance and acknowledgement by registrars.
Circular transmitting Gazette Notification G.S.R. 5(E) dated 03.01.2003 amending Form No.25A and Form 26 under the Companies Act, 1956; directed Regional Directors and Registrars of Companies to note the amendments, implement necessary procedural adjustments to filings, and acknowledge receipt.

Director disqualification: defaults on privately placed debt by public financial institutions will not trigger disqualification.
Defaults on privately placed bonds, debentures or other privately issued debt instruments by public financial institutions shall not be treated as defaults that disqualify directors under the Companies Act; this clarification, issued in continuation of Circular No. 8/2002, is directed to Regional Directors and Registrars of Companies for administrative guidance.

Reopening of annual accounts permitted to comply with other laws, with revisions adopted in a general meeting and filed.
Companies may reopen and revise adopted annual accounts to comply with technical requirements of other laws and to achieve a true and fair view; revised accounts must be adopted in an extraordinary general meeting or the subsequent annual general meeting and filed with the Registrar of Companies.

Cost auditor participation in audit committee meetings permitted as non-member attendee with no voting rights.
Cost auditors may be invited to attend and participate in audit committee meetings to assist on cost management and related matters but are not members and have no voting rights. The audit committee is to be constituted only from directors; auditors and internal auditors may attend to present views, and where a cost auditor acts as an internal auditor they may participate without voting. Any view that cost auditors can be committee members is incorrect.

Companies Act schedule amendments circulated for implementation and acknowledgement by company registries.
Amendments to Schedule V and Schedule VI of the Companies Act, 1956 were notified by Gazette instruments and circulated by the Department of Company Affairs to Regional Directors and Registrars of Companies for information and necessary action, with a request for acknowledgement of receipt.

Submission of soft copy of Cost Audit Reports must be on non rewritable media in prescribed two part formats to ensure uniformity.
Cost Auditors must submit the soft copy of Cost Audit Reports on a non rewritable CD ROM with two parts: Part I as a single file in PDF (Adobe Acrobat v4.0+) or Microsoft XLS format containing the full report and annexures, and Part II as an Excel worksheet reproducing Paras 4-28 of the Annexure in the prescribed format. The electronic submission must not disclose any identifying or location information of the unit or company. These format and anonymity requirements are effective immediately.

Amendment to Schedule XIII notified; compliance for companies in special economic zones and IEPF committee changes forwarded.
The Department of Company Affairs forwards two Gazette notifications for action: an amendment to Schedule XIII of the Companies Act, 1956 concerning companies in Special Economic Zones, and an amendment to the committee that administers the Investor Education and Protection Fund, directing Regional Directors and Registrars of Companies to note the changes and acknowledge receipt.

Amendments to companies law prospectus and secretary qualification rules circulated for registrar and regional compliance.
The Ministry circulated Gazette notifications amending Schedule II on prospectus provisions and issuing a corrigendum to the rules on appointment and qualifications of company secretaries, directing Regional Directors and Registrars of Companies to note the changes and acknowledge receipt.

Reversion to private company status: subsidiaries of foreign corporates may revert upon application; Registrar must update certificate.
The amendment nullifies the earlier deemed public effect for subsidiaries of foreign body corporates, restoring statutory private company status where applicable. Companies must apply to the Registrar to amend their certificate of incorporation, and the Registrar is required to substitute "private limited" for "public limited" and complete corrections within four weeks. No time limit is prescribed for seeking reversion; companies that do not apply are deemed to have chosen to remain public, and the former exemption used when foreign bodies held all shares is no longer required.

Unclaimed dividends and corporate payments: transfer to Investor Education and Protection Fund after prescribed unclaimed period.
Section 205C mandates transfer of specified unclaimed corporate monies to the Investor Education and Protection Fund when they remain unclaimed for the statutory unclaimed period. This covers unpaid dividends (including interest), application moneys due for refund, matured deposits, matured debentures and interest thereon, subject to transitional rules for amounts previously transferred to government accounts and a limited grace period following the Fund's operational commencement.

Threshold limit for TDS on dividend and mutual fund income raised, exempting small payments from deduction.
The circular raises the threshold limit for deduction of tax at source on dividend income and income from mutual fund units so that no tax shall be deducted where the dividend or unit income does not exceed the prescribed threshold, with immediate effect; officers are directed to implement the revised threshold and to notify staff in their regions.

Constitution of Company Law Board Benches allocates matters to Principal, Regional and Single Member benches with territorial jurisdiction.
Constitution of Company Law Board benches assigns corporate reorganisation, revival, winding up and Chapter VI matters to a Principal Bench and an Additional Principal Bench at Chennai with named Members; interlocutory and miscellaneous applications may be heard by a Single Member. The Additional Principal Bench's territorial jurisdiction covers specified southern States and Union Territories. Regional Benches handle certain listed provisions while Single Member benches at Regional Benches deal with other Companies Act matters and specified Reserve Bank matters. Benches may sit anywhere in India and may refer matters to the Principal Bench for joint consultation.

Amendment to Schedule XIII: Notification forwarded to regional directors and registrars, requiring circulation and acknowledgment.
Notification G.S.R. 565(E) dated 14.08.2002 amending Schedule XIII to the Companies Act, 1956 is circulated by the Department of Company Affairs to all Regional Directors and Registrars of Companies, with directions for circulation and a request to acknowledge receipt; the communication serves as an administrative transmission to bring the amendment to the attention of enforcement and registration authorities.

Rounding of figures in Schedule VI notified; recipients instructed to circulate the alteration and take necessary administrative action.
Alterations to Schedule VI concerning the rounding of figures have been promulgated by government notification and are forwarded to Regional Directors and Registrars of Companies for noting and necessary administrative action, with a request to acknowledge receipt.

Company Law Board fees rules amendment circulated for administrative action and acknowledgement by company registrars.
Amendment to the Company Law Board (Fees on Applications and Petitions) Rules, 1991 by Notification GSR 510(E) dated 22.7.2002 is circulated to Regional Directors and Registrars of Companies for information and necessary action, with a request to acknowledge receipt of the enclosed Gazette notification.

Dividend withholding: mandate to include TDS particulars on dividend warrants and issue matching TDS certificates to shareholders.
Companies must include TDS particulars on dividend warrants: ledger folio, number of shares, warrant number, gross dividend, rate of tax, tax deducted, net amount payable, and a certification clause with place, date and signature of the person responsible for deduction. The TDS format may be printed on the reverse of the warrant and, where dividends are paid electronically or in demat form, the same format should be issued; for cash or cheque payments, companies should issue the TDS certificate in this format along with the dividend intimation.

Disclosure thresholds under Companies Act: revised remuneration limits apply and may be used for prior year reports.
Revised disclosure thresholds for employee remuneration under section 217(2A) and the Companies (Particulars of Employees) Rules apply to Directors' Reports annexed to balance sheets for financial years closing on or after the revision date; additionally, Directors' Reports for the financial year ending 31 March 2002 may include employee details on the basis of the revised limits, as an administrative clarification for Regional Directors and Registrars.

Delay in filing statutory form triggers additional fee under Companies Act for late document submission.
Where appointments meet Schedule XIII conditions, a return in Form No.25C must be filed within ninety days; belated filing of Form No.25C does not attract section 637B(b) but falls under section 611, and Registrars of Companies shall charge additional fee on belated Form No.25C filings at the rate standardized by Press Note No.2/95.