Regulatory amendment to Company Law Board jurisdiction updates state listings and adds Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
Amendment to the Company Law Board Regulations, 1991, made under section 10E(4B) and (6) of the Companies Act, 1956, coming into force on Gazette publication, modifies Annexure I by inserting Jharkhand after West Bengal in S. No. 1, substituting a revised list of States and the Union Territory of Chandigarh for S. No. 2, and inserting Chhattisgarh after Maharashtra in S. No. 4.

Constitution of Committee for Investor Education and Protection Fund establishes membership and fixed tenure for administration.
Constitution of a supervisory Committee to administer the Investor Education and Protection Fund under the Companies Act, with the Secretary, Department of Company Affairs as Chair and twelve named members from regulatory, professional and stakeholder backgrounds; Members to hold office for a fixed term of two years from publication of the notification.

Cost audit report rules establish reporting framework and supersede prior cost audit report rules under Companies Act.
The Central Government promulgated the Cost Audit Report Rules, 2001 under powers conferred by the Companies Act, establishing the regulatory framework for preparation and submission of cost audit reports and superseding the Cost Audit (Report) Rules, 1996, except insofar as prior acts or omissions are concerned.

Cost accounting obligations require electricity companies to maintain detailed activity-wise cost records and comply with prescribed proformae.
These Rules require companies engaged in electricity generation, transmission, distribution and supply to maintain detailed cost accounting records and statistical data, complete prescribed proformae within ninety days of the financial year end, and disclose bases and accounting policies for allocation of materials, labour, utilities, repairs, fixed assets and overheads. Methods must be equitable, reasonable and consistently applied; records must enable computation of activity-wise costs and support Cost Auditor reporting. Non-compliance attracts specified monetary penalties against companies and defaulting officers.

Public deposit eligibility updated: companies below prescribed net owned fund cannot solicit deposits; penal interest applies for overdue deposits.
Amendment defines net owned fund by reference to the Reserve Bank of India Act and prohibits companies below the prescribed net owned fund threshold from inviting public deposits. It also adds a penal interest regime for overdue public deposits, applying a higher compoundable annual penal rate to deposits made by small depositors, and directs commencement upon publication in the Official Gazette.

Postal ballot procedure: required dispatch methods and notice publication, with fixed treatment for late consents.
The amendment mandates that postal ballot notices be sent either under Registered Post Acknowledgement Due or under certificate of posting and accompanied by an advertisement in a leading English newspaper and a vernacular paper announcing despatch of ballot papers; it makes certain previously permissive provisions mandatory, revises enumerated matters includable by postal ballot, requires the scrutinizer to report promptly after the last date for receipt of ballots, and treats consents received after thirty days from issue of the notice as if no reply had been received.

Investor Education and Protection Fund rules mandate remittance, accounting and committee oversight for grants and investor awareness programmes.
These Rules require companies to remit specified unpaid or unclaimed investor-related amounts into the Investor Education and Protection Fund within thirty days, submit stamped challans and a certified Form 1 to the Registrar, who must record and reconcile receipts and forward monthly abstracts. A Central Government nominated Committee, with power to form sub-committees, administers the Fund, recommends and disburses grants to registered associations (Forms 3 and 4), may call companies to pay dues, inspect records and the end use of grants, and is subject to annual internal audit and audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General.

Investor education and protection fund created under the Companies Act to consolidate unclaimed company amounts and support investor awareness.
The Central Government, under Sub section (1) of Section 205C of the Companies Act, 1956, notifies the creation of the Investor Education and Protection Fund as a repository for sums required to be credited under the Act, providing a statutory mechanism for collecting and allocating unclaimed company amounts to support investor education and protection.

Disclosure exemption for tea cultivation and processing companies requires quantity and stock details and value reporting for purchased tea.
The Central Government exempts companies engaged in the cultivation or processing of tea from disclosing the value information specified in Schedule VI to the Companies Act, subject to conditions: disclose quantity and other particulars (excluding value) of green leaf tea produced and processed with opening and closing stock; and where green leaf tea is purchased, disclose the value of purchases in addition to quantity, particulars, and opening and closing stock. The exemption is effective for three years from Gazette publication.

Deposits from directors and members allowed with declaration; added small depositor disclosures and Regional Director enforcement.
The amendment permits private companies to accept amounts from persons who are directors, relatives of directors or members if the giver furnishes a written declaration that the funds are not obtained by borrowing or acceptance from others. It requires disclosure of the number and amount due to small depositors in default and any waiver of interest on such deposits, and inserts rule 11A authorising the Regional Director to make complaints under sub-section (2) of section 58AAA.

Appointment of Chairman: Shri Vinod Dhall named Department of Company Affairs chair under Companies Act authority.
The Central Government, under the authority of sub-section (4) of section 205C of the Companies Act, 1956, amends Notification No. SO 1087(E) dated 11-11-1999 by substituting the entry at serial number 1 to designate Shri Vinod Dhall, IAS, as Chairman of the Department of Company Affairs, effecting an administrative change in the earlier notification.

Schedule amendment removes specified serial entries, changing Companies Act schedule content under government notification.
The Central Government has amended Schedule XV to the Companies Act, 1956 by omitting serial numbers 3, 4, 5 and 6 and the entries relating thereto; the change was effected by government notification published in the Gazette and executed by the Department of Company Affairs under the statutory powers referenced in the notice.

National Advisory Committee on Accounting Standards constituted to advise on formulation and adoption of accounting policies and standards.
Notification constituting the National Advisory Committee on Accounting Standards to advise the Central Government on formulation and laying down of accounting policies and accounting standards for adoption by companies. The Committee's membership is listed - including a Chairperson, professional body presidents, government and regulatory nominees, academic and industry representatives - with members to hold office for one year. The notification takes effect from its publication in the Official Gazette.

Prudential norms for Nidhis: income on loans recognised only when realised, with staged provisioning for deteriorating assets.
Prudential norms require Nidhis to recognise income on loans only when realised and to reverse unrealised income on assets newly classified as non performing. Mortgage loans must be classified as Standard, Sub standard, Doubtful or Loss with prescribed provisions (no provision, 10%, 50%, 100% respectively) and collateral realisable value may be deducted where sale proceedings began within two years, capped at original assessed value. Loans secured by jewellery, government securities or deposits must be recovered within three months of default and attract 100% provision for unrealised amounts. Provisions must be charged to and disclosed in the current year's profit and loss account.

Nidhi regulations restrict non core activities and impose membership, deposit, lending and governance controls for Nidhi companies.
The notification establishes comprehensive regulatory controls for companies declared as Nidhi or Mutual Benefit Society, restricting non core business activities, prescribing membership minima, annual auditor certification, minimum Net Owned Funds and controlled branch expansion. It caps aggregate deposits relative to Net Owned Funds, prescribes permitted deposit products and application disclosures, mandates minimum shareholding by depositors, requires specified bank term deposit investments, limits member lending by security type and ceilings, regulates director tenure and eligibility, constrains dividend declaration and empowers appointment of a Special Officer for breaches, with transitional timelines and limited Central Government exemptions.

Commencement of Section 80 appointed under Companies (Amendment) Act, bringing the provision into force on the specified date.
The Central Government, exercising the enabling power in the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2000, by notification S.O. 523(E), appoints the specified date as the day on which the targeted provision of the Act shall come into force, and the Department of Company Affairs issued the notice through its Joint Secretary to give effect to that commencement.

Filing requirement: Intimations and petitions for default on matured deposits and debentures must use Form No.1.
Regulatory amendments expand existing provisions to cover debenture defaults alongside deposit defaults, introduce Regulation 42A mandating that intimations under the small depositor provision and petitions under the debenture default provision be filed in Form No.1, and revise Annexure II and III forms to insert debenture-holder terminology, update cross-references, and prescribe detailed documentary requirements for petitions about repayment defaults, including officer particulars, full lists of depositors or debenture holders, reasons for non-payment, recent annual reports, audited cash flow projections for deposit-related matters, and prospectus and trust deed copies for debenture petitions.

Deposit acceptance limit reduced under Companies rules, lowering permissible deposit proportion and updating form entries accordingly.
The amendment substitutes the prior fifteen per cent figure with fourteen per cent in rule 3(1)(c) and in the Form, Part I, item 2(b) entries (vi)-(viii) and item 4(b) entries (vi)-(viii), reducing the statutory proportional limit applicable to acceptance of deposits.

Postal ballot procedures require appointment of an independent scrutinizer to oversee voting and preserve ballot records.
The Rules permit listed companies to pass specified resolutions by postal ballot, including postal and electronic voting, and prescribe the requisite majority standards for ordinary and special resolutions. Applicable matters are listed (for example, alteration of memorandum or articles, buy back, differential voting shares, change of registered office outside local limits, sale of undertaking, certain loans/guarantees, director elections, compromises, and variation of class rights). The board must note postal ballot items, appoint an independent scrutinizer to oversee voting, maintain a register of votes (including electronic and mutilated ballots), secure ballot papers until minutes are signed, and treat late responses as not received.

Cost Accounting Records applicability expanded to all steel manufacturing companies except small scale undertakings, revising short title and scope.
The amendment substitutes the short title to read "(Steel Plant)" and replaces Rule 2 with an application clause providing that these rules apply to every company engaged in the production, processing or manufacture of steel and steel products, except companies falling under the category of Small Scale Industrial undertakings; the rules take effect upon publication in the Official Gazette.