Amended Companies Bill is ready to face session

25 November 2011: After a two-year wait, the revamped and slimmer version of the Companies Bill is ready to be tabled before Parliament during the ongoing winter session. The Companies Bill 2011, with tighter disclosure norms, stricter penal provisions, greater shareholder democracy and introducing the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility, for the first time was cleared by the Cabinet.

The Bill will replace the existing Companies Bill 2009, which will be subsequently withdrawn. The reforms in the Companies Act, 1956 were initiated after a series of white-collar crimes, including the Satyam accounting fraud. It proposes to introduce the concept of class action suits for investor protection as well as a fixed term for independent directors and their liability in a company.

Source: HinduBusinessLine