The Cabinet today approved the Companies Bill 2011 which, once approved by Parliament, will replace half-a-century-old Act.Companies Bill, 2011 is likely to be tabled (for consideration and passage) in the ongoing Winter Session. The Bill, which has already been vetted by the Parliamentary Standing Committee of Finance and also by different ministries, seeks to update the company law in line with the best global practices.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has in order to improve service delivery to the Corporate Sector recently taken initiatives for further simplifying procedures under the Companies Act, 1965 and the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008. These include: (a) Company Law Settlement Scheme: The scheme was initially notified w.e.f. 12.08.2011 to enable the Companies failing to file their annual returns and financial statements to file the same. This measure has elicited a good response and so far 61875 documents have been filed yielding the revenue of Rs. 7.71 crore. As the demand for availing of this concession is persistent, a decision has been taken to extend this one time measure till 15.12.2011.

The government today deferred a decision on the new Companies Bill and said it would be taken up next month after sorting out issues concerning delegation of powers to the market regulator Sebi. “Finance Minister has been told by Sebi that few fine tuning matters have to be taken care of before it is actually [...]

Section 58A of Companies Act, 1956 has put restrictions on acceptance of deposits by any company subject to rules being prescribed. Accordingly, Companies (Acceptance of Deposits) Rules, 1975 were prescribed which lay down various regulations and procedures for acceptance of deposits by companies.

General Circular No. 65/2011, Dated-  4th Oct, 2011 Subject: Company Law Settlement Scheme, 2011  In continuation of the Ministry’s General Circulars No. 59/2011 dated 05.08.2011 and No. 60/2011 dated 10.08.2011 on the subject cited above, it is stated that the said scheme has been extended upto 15th December, 2011.

Violation of Companies Act – The Minister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs Shri R.P.N. Singh today informed the Lok Sabha that the number of prosecutions filed for the violations of the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 and disposed of during last three years are as under:-

Expressing hope that the Companies Bill, 2009, will be passed by Parliament in 2011, the Corporate Affairs Minister, Veerappa Moily, today said his ministry was ready with the Cabinet note for the legislation. Companies Bill will be passed, if not in this (monsoon) session, (then) definitely in the winter session, Moily told reporters on the sidelines of a FICCI meet here.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs, in exercise of the powers under Section 611(2) and 637B (b) of the Companies Act, 1956 has decided to introduce a Scheme namely, ‘Company Law Settlement Scheme, 2011,’condoning the delay in filing documents with the Registrar, granting immunity from prosecution and charging additional fee of 25 percent of actual additional fee payable for filing belated documents under the Companies Act, 1956 and the rules made there under. The orders issued to this effect vide the ministry’s General Circular No. 59 of August 05, 2011 are in order to give an opportunity to the defaulting companies to enable them to make their default good by filing such belated documents and to become a regular compliant in future. This scheme is effective from today and will remain in force up to 31st Oct, 2011.

General Circular No. 60/2011 In continuation of the Ministry’s General Circular No. 59/2011 dated 5.8.2011 on the subject cited above, it is stated that the said scheme shall be applicable to Form 52 (filing of annual accounts by a foreign company) as foreign companies are included in the scheme.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has framed following criteria for declaring any financial institution as a Public Financial Institution (PFI) under under section 4a of the Companies Act,1956: Decided that with effect from 12th June, 2011, all DIN-1 & DIN-4 applications has to be digitally signed by the practicing Chartered Accountants, Company Secretaries or Cost Accountants who shall also verify the particulars of the applicant given in the applications. All these applications will be approved online.