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Rajya Sabha passes Compnaies Bill,2017 The Companies Amendment Bill seeks to strengthen corporate governance, initiate action against defaulting firms and improve ease of doing business. The Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2017 which seeks to bring about major changes in the Companies Act, 2013, was passed by the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday by a voice vote.The bill, which was adopted by the Lok Sabha in July, will now have to receive the assent of the President to become law. The amendment seeks to strengthen corporate governance standards, initiate strict action against defaulting companies and help improve ease of doing business in the country. The Companies Act, 2013 has already been amended once under the current government. It was passed after much debate in the winter session of the Parliament as members raised concerns about independent directors being allowed up to 10% pecuniary interest in a company.Explaining the changes one could expect, Ankit Singhi, partner at consulting fi

Extend pre GST duty drawback rates: House panel A parliamentary panel has suggested the government extend the preGST duty drawback rates until June next year or till the revenue department comes out with the revised rates for exporter In its report on the ´Impact of goods and services tax (GST) on Exports´ placed in Parliament on Tuesday, the Standing Committee on Commerce chaired by Naresh Gujral recommended that a formal mechanism for grievance redressal of exporters must be put in place “In order to bring relief to the exporters, the Committee recommends that the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance extend the preGST duty drawback rates till June 30, 2018 or till such time the Department works out the revised duty drawback rates. “The Committee hopes that this will enable the exporters to overcome the problems being faced by them currently besides helping them to takealongterm perspective while negotiating export orders,” said the panel in the report. Panel raps go

Shell companies: Govt may provide relief for disqualified directors Starting January, shell companies can apply for a pardon for three months, and, for this period, the disqualification of directors will be lifted to allow them to file these documents The ministry of corporate affairs, or MCA, will soon notify a scheme to provide relief to over 300,000 directors disqualified for associating with companies that failed to file their financial results, said two people with knowledge of the matter. Non-compliant companies can apply for a pardon (or condonation of delay) for three months starting January; for this period, the disqualification of their directors will be lifted temporarily to allow them to file these documents. The window for filing all pending documents will be open till 30 June, said a copy of a draft circular reviewed by Mint. In September, the government had taken two sets of action against companies that were not compliant with provisions of the Companies Act.

RBI asks banks to share info with information utilities The Reserve Bank today asked banks and other financial institutions to share information about assets of creditors with information utilities registered under the insolvency law. The directive from the apex bank clears the air over sharing of information about creditors as required under the insolvency law as many banks reportedly had reservations in parting with such details. It also comes at a time when lenders are set to initiate insolvency proceedings against more than 20 borrowers in addition to over 10 cases where proceedings are underway.Information utilities store financial information to help establish defaults and verify claims expeditiously in order to complete transactions under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) in a time-bound manner. "All financial creditors regulated by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are advised to adhere to the relevant provisions of IBC, 2016 and IBBI (IUs) Regulations, 2017

Disclose consolidated stake of shareholders: Sebi to bourses To avoid multiple disclosures, the Securities and Exchange Board of India(Sebi) asked on Tuesday exchanges and depositories to disclose consolidated holding of each shareholder, including promoters and public on the basis of the PAN and folio number. This will help avoid multiple disclosures of share holding of the same person, Sebi said in a circular.According to Sebi, holding disclosures of the promoter and promoter group, publics hare holder and others must be accompanied with PAN (first holder in the case of joint holding). "Further, the shareholding of the promoter and promoter group, public shareholder and nonpublic, nonpromoter shareholder is to be consolidated on the basis of the PAN and folio number to avoid multiple disclosures of shareholding of the same person," the regulator noted.Folios are numbers designated to individual investor accounts, though one investor can have multiple accounts. The B

Sebi may ease FPI norms, compliance rules for firms facing bankruptcy At least 400 companies are undergoing resolution under insolvency and bankruptcy code, FPIs account for 18% of India’s market capitalization The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) board is likely to further ease norms for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and come out with easier compliance rules for companies undergoing bankruptcy, said two people with direct knowledge. The board is scheduled to meet on 28 December The board will expand the list of eligible jurisdictions to grant registration to FPIs, rationalize “fit and proper” criteria and simplify regulatory requirements, these people said. The move is aimed at easing direct registration for FPIs and avoiding so-called participatory notes (P-notes), said one of the people cited earlier. On 28 June, the regulator had issued a discussion paper to ease FPI entry. FPIs had holdings worth Rs 418.81 billion in Indian stocks at the end of 30th S