Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Corporate Affairs

18-December-2015 14:44 IST

The major highlights of the achievements of the Ministry of corporate Affairs in the current fiscal year is as follows:

§  The Companies (Amendment) Act, 2015 [21 of 2015] has been published in the Gazette on 26th May, 2015, and is also available on the Ministry’s website. The Amendment Act addresses the practical difficulties faced by the companies/stakeholders as brought out by Industry Chambers and other agencies in complying with certain provisions of the Companies Act, 2013. It is aimed at facilitating ‘ease of doing business’.

Barring sections 13 and 14 of the Amendment Act. All the sections of the Amendment Act have been brought into force w.e.f. 29th May, 2015. The consequential changes in following five sets of rules prescribed under the Companies Act, 2013 have also been notified with effect from such date:-

·         The Companies (Incorporation) Rules, 2014

·         The Companies (Share Capital and Debentures) Rules, 2014

·         The Companies (Registration of Charges) Rules, 2014

·         The Companies (Declaration and Payment of Divident) Rules, 2014

·         The Companies (Registration Offices and Fees) Rules, 2014

§  Companies Law Committee (CLC)

The Ministry has, on 5th June, 2015, constituted a Companies Law Committee:-

 (i) To make recommendations to the Government on issues arising from the implementation of the Companies Act, 2013 and

(ii) To examine the recommendations received from the Bankruptcy Law Reforms Committee, the High Level Committee on CSR, the Law Commission and other agencies, while undertaking (i) above.

The Committee is headed by Secretary, MCA. Ms. Reva Khetrapal, former Judge, Delhi High Court, Presidents of the ICAI, ICAI (Cost) and Representatives from CII and FICCI are the other Members of the Committee. Joint Secretary (Policy), MCA is the Member-Convener of the Committee. The Committee has constituted Six groups under the Convenorship/Chairmanship of one member each of the CLC with members drawn from Industry and experts in order to broad base the consultations process. The CLC has completed deliberations on key recommendations of five of the Groups and is likely to submit its recommendations within six months of its first meeting.

§  Exemptions under section 462 for various classes of companies

The Ministry, on 5th June, 2015 issued the final notifications under Section 462 of the Companies Act, 2013 (Act), which provide for exemptions under various provisions of the Act to (i) Private Companies; (ii) Government Companies; (iii) Section 8 Companies and (iv) Nidhis. The notifications are available at the Ministry’s website at www.mca.gov.in.

§  Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

A High Level Committee was constituted under Chairmanship of Shri Anil Baijal, former Union Secretary, to suggest measures for monitoring the progress in implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies by companies at their level and by the Government. The Committee submitted its report on 22nd September, 2015. The report of the Committee has been placed on the Ministry’s website.

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DSM/MAM

Companies amendment implementation spurred rule notifications, a companies law committee, section 462 exemptions and CSR oversight. The Ministry published and brought into force the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2015 (except sections 13 and 14) effective 29 May 2015 and notified consequential amendments to five rule-sets. It constituted a Companies Law Committee with six groups to examine implementation and related recommendations. Final notifications under section 462 grant exemptions to Private Companies, Government Companies, Section 8 companies and Nidhis. A High Level Committee on Corporate Social Responsibility submitted a monitoring report placed on the Ministry's website.