Notarial malpractice reform: administrative directives to discipline errant notaries and tighten identity verification and recordkeeping procedures.
The Company Law Board addressed multiple breaches in affidavit attestation by notaries-blank spaces, non disclosure of signatory identity, notarization without deponents, and false identification-and directed the Chief Secretary, NCT of Delhi to initiate disciplinary action against identified notaries and to issue instructions requiring notaries to record signatures and full details of deponents and identifiers in the Notary Register and to affix their seal and signature on each page of attested documents, with a report to be sent to the Board.

Misrepresentation in corporate reporting spurred a fraud probe, and further action awaits the regulator's report and examination.
SFIO is investigating alleged misrepresentation in corporate reporting and contraventions of the Companies Act by M/s S. Kumar Nationwide Ltd, following a complaint from the registrar of companies; the company's reply is under examination and further action is pending receipt of the registrar's report.

Recognition and empowerment of SFIO strengthens statutory investigatory powers over corporate affairs under company law.
The Expert Committee recommended statutory recognition and strengthened investigatory powers for the Serious Fraud Investigation Office; those recommendations were incorporated into the Companies Bill, 2011 to provide formal recognition to SFIO and empower it to investigate the affairs of companies.

Good corporate governance emphasizes effective leadership, integrity and transparency to secure accountable and sustainable corporate conduct.
Good corporate governance requires effective and responsible leadership characterized by integrity, transparency and accountability; corporate reputation underpins governance success. Policy and regulatory measures-including a national corporate governance policy, competition law amendments and a new companies bill-are being advanced to strengthen the regulatory environment, promote sustainability, ease of doing business, and mainstream corporate social responsibility, with professional bodies disseminating best practices.

Regulatory reform: committee formed to diagnose bottlenecks and propose a roadmap to improve the business climate.
Constitution of a high-level expert committee to reform the regulatory environment for doing business in India by examining financial reform, governance reform, liberalized policy frameworks and process reform, and to suggest a coordinated roadmap to improve the business climate.

Fast Track Exit Mode enables defunct companies to apply for administrative strike-off to cleanse the companies register.
To address registrational inaccuracy from long-inactive entities, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs introduced the Fast Track Exit Mode to allow eligible defunct or dormant companies to seek administrative removal from the register maintained by the Registrar of Companies, providing an expedited mechanism for company strike-off under the statutory exit framework.

Competition law enforcement: orders against chemists' association and directed investigations into other associations.
The Commission found a regional chemists and druggists association in breach of the Competition Act, imposed a monetary penalty, and directed the Director General to investigate several other associations; the Director General submitted reports in multiple cases while one investigation is stayed by litigation.

Bilateral investment protection notices prompt government negotiations with foreign investors for amicable settlement under BIPAs.
Notices from foreign investors under Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements have been received and are being processed under applicable BIPA provisions; the State is engaging in negotiations with claimants to seek amicable settlement within the treaty-based dispute-resolution framework, as disclosed in a parliamentary reply by the Minister of State for Commerce and Industry.

Company Law Board caseload reported as stable; corresponding budget allocations disclosed by minister in parliamentary reply.
The Company Law Board has a Principal Bench in New Delhi and four Regional Benches; reported petition filings across three years showed numbers in the low tens of thousands with minimal net change, indicating a stable caseload. The release also discloses the Board's budgetary allocations for each of the three financial years and notes that these operational and funding figures were provided in response to a written parliamentary question by the responsible minister.

Violation of Companies Act: prosecutions are treated as criminal cases leading to fines or imprisonment where offences are proven.
Violation of the Companies Act is prosecuted by the Registrar of Companies (RoCs) as criminal cases, with courts imposing monetary fine and imprisonment where statutory offences are proven; official enforcement reporting aggregates court-imposed fines from RoC-initiated prosecutions as indicators of enforcement activity.

Vanishing companies identification: FIRs lodged where registered office, director traceability and statutory filings are not maintained.
Vanishing companies were identified where IPO-raised companies failed to maintain a registered office, directors were non-traceable, and statutory returns or listing requirements were not filed for two years; of 238 initially listed, 151 were deleted on review and 87 remain vanished, with FIRs lodged against those companies and their directors to trace their whereabouts.

Service tax on directors' commission: company-paid tax need not trigger central approval under companies act remuneration limits.
The Ministry clarified that increases in Non Whole Time Directors' remuneration solely because the company pays service tax on commission will not require prior Central Government approval under sections 309 and 310 of the Companies Act, even if such payment causes remuneration to exceed the statutory percentage limits; company paid service tax is treated as part of remuneration under section 198, and Non Whole Time Directors are not in the exempted list for service tax.

Competition Act contraventions resulted in regulatory penalties and directives requiring compliance within a set deadline.
The Competition Commission of India found multiple cement manufacturers in contravention of the Competition Act, 2002 and imposed monetary penalties in two separate orders; the Commission's directions must be complied with within the specified period after receipt of the orders.

Abuse of dominant position probe initiated against Google; Competition Commission ordered regulatory investigation following consumer complaint.
A regulatory investigation has been initiated into allegations of abuse of dominant position by Google following a consumer advocacy complaint. The Competition Commission of India has received information alleging contravention of competition law provisions and has directed its Director General to conduct an inquiry to examine the alleged anti competitive conduct and determine any contraventions.

Dividend obligation: companies are not legally required to declare or pay annual dividends; ministry lacks central data.
Companies are not subject to a statutory obligation to declare or distribute dividends annually, leaving dividend distribution to company discretion and internal governance; the Ministry of Corporate Affairs does not maintain a centralized dataset identifying companies that have not paid dividends.

Ban on prize chit and money circulation schemes reinforced; central coordination for studies and regulator information sharing follows.
The Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning) Act forbids promotion or conduct of prize chits and money circulation schemes, with enforcement responsibility vested in the respective state governments; no central enforcement agency is proposed. The Central Economic Intelligence Bureau is proposed to coordinate with state agencies, undertake sample studies of multi-level marketing and money circulation schemes, and share results with concerned regulators to support state-level implementation and oversight.

Role differentiation between Registrar and fraud investigator affirms separate mandates and central power to appoint inspectors for fraud probes.
ROC functions as registrars/regulators under the Companies Act, 1956, while SFIO investigates serious financial irregularities and frauds in companies when entrusted by the Central Government. SFIO has no separate statutory powers under the Companies Act; the Central Government can appoint an Inspector to investigate serious frauds. There is no functional duplication justifying dissolution of SFIO, and no proposal exists to dissolve it.

Anti-competitive practices investigation compels car makers to face inquiry under competition law and potential enforcement action.
Investigation initiated into alleged anti-competitive practices by a subset of car manufacturers after information received under Section 19(1)(a) of the Competition Act, 2002; the Competition Commission, as a quasi judicial regulator, has opened proceedings to determine whether the information justifies enforcement action under the Act.

Competition policy integration to embed competition principles in economic policy and strengthen market freedom and consumer protection.
The draft National Competition Policy seeks to integrate competition principles across government economic policies to reap benefits of competition, while the Competition Commission of India is mandated to eliminate practices adversely affecting competition, promote and sustain competition, protect consumer interests, and ensure freedom of trade, and is reported to be fully functional and working to achieve these objectives.

Unfair trade practices: appeals under competition law address advertising disputes, but defining acceptable advertising limits is not proposed.
Unfair trade practices in the context of advertising are addressed through the appellate mechanism under the Competition Act, but there is no contemporaneous proposal to define statutory limits of acceptable advertising; the adjudicatory appellate body disposes of appeals against directions, decisions, or orders issued under the Act concerning unfair trade practices, including advertising-related matters.