Open to Companies Act Amendment, Says Nirmala

CHENNAI: The Union government is open to amending the Companies Act 2013 if the industry is not satisfied with a list of rule changes that are due to be released shortly, according to the Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Nirmala Seetharaman.

Speaking at the Hindustan Chamber of Commerce’s Annual day, Seetharaman said that the government had exhaustively reviewed the suggestion that were brought up during the stakeholders meet held in June and a list of possible changes have been notified to Parliament.

“The Ministry has gone into every information, every input and reconciled that with the particular sections of the Companies Act. Following this, we have compiled a list of possible changes to the rules. Some of these had to be notified to Parliament and we have also done that,” she said.

She also said that Parliament requires a sitting period of 30 days before the notification and the list of changes would be announced shortly after that. “These complete list of changes, by which I hope a majority of the industry’s concerns will be removed, will be released. And if you (industry) are still unsatisfied with the Act, we are open to amending it,” she said.

The Minister also said that key issues that were being addressed dealt with the position and duties of independent directors, the responsibility of chartered accountants and the differentiation of private limited companies and others.

The Ministry is also looking into duty drawbacks for companies in EOUs, decongestion of the three ports in the Chennai region and the implementation of a single window system for simplifying documentation and increasing ease of doing business.

Source: The New Indian Express