Conference attended on Companies Bill 2009 (RBI Guidelines)

Conference on Companies Bill 2009 (RBI Guidelines) was organized by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on 17th November 2009.
Dean Academics, BSB, Ms. Kanwal Gandhi along with Ms. Ritu Bedi, Lecturer and BSB students attended the conference .

HIGHLIGHTS

• Welcome address by Mr. Harsh Pati Singhania, President FICCI
• Theme Address by Mr. Siddharth Birla , Chairman FICCI Corporate Laws Committee and chairman , XPRO India Ltd
• Keynote Address by Mr. R. Bandaopadhyay , Secretary Corporate Affairs
• Inaugural Address by Mr. Salman Khurshid , Hon’ble Minister of  State IC , Ministry of Corporate Affairs , Govt. of India followed by the concluding remarks by Dr. Amit Mitra , Secretary General , FICCI.
• Technical session was chaired by Ms. Renuka Kumar, Jt. Secretary (Corporate affairs), Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Govt. of India., the panelists were Mr. Shardul Shroff, Mg. Partner, Amarchand & Mangaldas & Suresh A Shroff & Co, Ms. Vijaya Sampath, Group General Counsel and Company Secretary , Bharti Enterprises Ltd and Mr. S.R Mehta, Proprietor , S R Mehta & Co.

The main objectives of the Companies Bill discussed were, as follows –

(a) to revise and modify the Companies Act, 1956 in consonance with the changes in the national and international economy;

(b) to bring about compactness by deleting the provisions that had become redundant over time and by regrouping the scattered provisions relating to specific subjects;

(c) to re-write various provisions of the Act to enable easy interpretation; and

(d) to de-link the procedural aspects from the substantive law and provide greater flexibility in rule making to enable adaptation to the changing economic and technical environment.
Addressing the conference on ‘Companies Bill 2009’ Mr. Salman Khurshid suggested that the incentives for CSR could be fiscal incentives that are proportionate to the CSR initiatives being undertaken. He said the ministry’s attempt was to see that the industry takes up CSR activities in such a manner that it turned out to be a next-generation affirmative action that went beyond reservations for weaker sections of the society.
On the issue of the remuneration to managing directors, the minister wanted industry to suggest if they require further changes in the current system. He invited industry’s views on the remuneration issue and the role of remuneration committees.
The discussion was open to all and was quite informative.