The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : New Companies Bill to shift emphasis

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Tamil Nadu - Chennai

New Companies Bill to shift emphasis

Special Correspondent

From control to self-regulation

CHENNAI: The new Companies Bill that is likely to be introduced in the next session of Parliament will shift the emphasis from control by the government to self-regulation by corporates, Union Minister for Corporate Affairs Prem Chand Gupta said on Saturday.

“The proposed Bill will be a simple, easy-to-use set of procedures on a par with the best Companies Act in the world,” Mr. Gupta told reporters on Saturday.

“We need the corporate sector to grow, go abroad and acquire companies. Earlier, multinationals used to come to India to set up establishments,” he said. “Now, the trend has changed: the captains of Indian industry are exploring overseas markets and acquiring companies outside India. The Bill will provide a level playing field for them,” he said.

Some of the provisions of the old Act had become redundant in the present context, and through a consultative process, the provisions of the new Bill had been arrived at. For instance, he said, the clause pertaining to remuneration in the corporate sector was irrelevant. “Why should corporate salaries be regulated by the government? Shareholders should determine them. Similarly, currently we are asking for the balance sheets of subsidiary companies to be attached to that of the parent company. The new Bill will do away with it and ask only for financial statements to be appended,” Mr.Gupta said.

He was in Chennai to inaugurate “Corporate Bhawan” on Rajaji Salai. The Bhawan will provide a forum and office for corporates and lawyers to come together and discuss common issues, the Minister said. It would also provide space for a bench of the National Companies Law Tribunal in future and the local bench of the Company Law Board.

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