In order to strengthen Companies Bill 2008, especially in the light of the Satyam Computers episode, XLRI School of Business & Human Resources, in partnership with the eastern regional council of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), is to conduct a round table conference on the Companies Bill 2008 as well as the Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) Act, 2008.
Even though the Companies Bill 2008 was passed by the Cabinet in August 2008, it could not subsequently be enacted by the Parliament, and with the Lok Sabha polls round the corner, the Bill could now be passed only by the next Parliament.
According to Gourav Vallabh, XLRI professor of finance & faculty coordinator for the conference to be held at the B-School on March 14, suggestions for changes needed in the Bill are likely to come to the fore during the conference.
“We want to provide a platform where practitioners, academicians, students, etc participate and come out with a consensus (on the changes that still need to be incorporated in the Bill),” Vallabh told FE on Thursday. The outgoing government had the desire to strengthen the Bill by improving upon sections in it related to corporate governance, keeping in mind that Satyam-type incidents don?t get repeated in the future.
The Companies Bill 2008 is an attempt, among other things, to simplify the existing Companies Act 1956 with a view to convert sole proprietorships and partnerships into corporate entities.
Vallabh said the corporate structure of doing business was still not viewed favourably in India as compliance cost, e.g., filing documents with the registrar of companies (RoC) and with others, has been high. “We have only 6 million registered companies in India as against12 million in the UK,” said the XLRI professor of finance.
The Companies bill, among other things, also attempts to simplify the Act by bringing down the number of sections from around 658 to 150 in the new one. “We want to make a good discussion on what could be included in the unpassed bill so that Satyam-type of issues could be avoided,” said Vallabh.
While GK Pillai, chairman & managing director of Heavy Engineering Corp, is to be the chief guest, prominent figures from the corporate world, like DP Chakravarti, senior general manager & secretary of Goodricke Group Ltd, BB Chatterjee, executive vice-president & company secretary of ITC and Nesar Ahmad, who has been practising as company secretary in the area of corporate and securities laws since 1993, will also be present at the conference.