สรุปข่าวเศรษฐกิจอินเดียประจำวันที่ 11 พฤศจิกายน 2556

Companies Act rules likely to be sent to Law Ministry this month

The Corporate Affairs Ministry, which is in the process of preparing rules for the new companies legislation, is expected to send the final norms to the Law Ministry for approval this month. The Companies Act, 2013, replaces the nearly six decade old legislation governing corproates in the country. The rules are expected to be decided by the Ministry soon and then the same would be send to the Law Ministry for vetting this month, according to an official.  Social welfare spending, stricter disclosure requirements and stronger investor protection measures, are among the features of the new companies law. Corporate Affairs Ministry, which is implementing the law, has already sought views on draft rules for the new legislation. More than 26,000 comments have been received on the draft rules, with over 10,000 suggestions pouring in for the norms related to auditors. The government started seeking comments from stakeholders as well as public from September 9 onwards. Draft rules have been issued in four tranches covering 29 chapters. The first tranche covered 16 chapters while the second one comprised nine chapters. The deadline for providing comments on third and fourth tranches, for four chapters, ends on November 10. Under the new law, certain class of companies are required to shell out at least two per cent of their three-year average annual profit towards social welfare activities. The Companies Bill 2013 received assent from President Pranab Mukherjee on August 29.

(Source: Economic Times)

Sharma proposes, Govt. disposes

Notwithstanding the slew of steps taken by commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma to reform India's economy, his ministry continues to face stiff opposition within the government in almost all major decisions taken by it of late. Sharma's woes don't end there. While his ministry has always been at loggerheads with the finance ministry on several matters including exports incentives and special economic zones, the alacrity with which the latter criticized the commerce ministry's negotiating the free trade agreements (FTA) with partner countries is hard to miss. While it was Sharma who fought with traders, farmers and even regional political parties to throw open the retail sector for foreign investment, he and his team have not been given due credit for bringing about the reforms. On the National Manufacturing Policy, Sharma had to fight against all odds to launch the programme. It was vehemently opposed by the labour and environment ministries. The policy, launched in 2011, has not been to the government's satisfaction. During the first meeting of Manufacturing Industry Promotion Board chaired by Sharma, the ministry sought the finance ministry's cooperation to offer tax sops to lure investors. However, the PM was seen lauding the National Manufacturing Competitive Council for implementing the policy, not ministry of commerce and industry.

(Source: Business Standard)

New norms for foreign players not to hit Indian banks: Union Bank

Opening up of Indian banking industry for foreign players will not harm local lenders, who have been operating in the country for nearly 100 years, asserts a senior executive of Union Bank. The new banking entrants will ensure more competition in the market and ultimately, will provide benefit to the consumers, he explained."The competition will pave way for introduction of more financial products at competitive prices. At the end, it is the consumer who will benefit," said Subrahmanyam, executive director of the Union bank. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently came up with guidelines that allows foreign players to set up their wholly-owned subsidiary banks in India. The new framework requires foreign banks to create separate legal entities, having their own capital base and local board of directors. The final guideline allow foreign banks to buy local private sector banks subject to the overall investment limit of 74 percent. RBI says these acquisitions will be permitted after a review of the extent of penetration of foreign investment in Indian banks and functioning of foreign banks.

(Source: Business Standard)

Government streamlining security clearance process for industries

Industrial and infrastructure projects will soon start getting security clearance within 12 weeks as the Home Ministry is planning to streamline the process. Industries often complain of delay in getting security clearance which sometime takes as long as six months to one year. Following an initiative by Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth, the Home Ministry has identified the reasons behind the delay in giving security clearance to industrial and infrastructure projects and is planning to rectify them. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had last year identified delays in security clearances to some port projects as "a major bottleneck" for the infrastructure sector. Following this, the Shipping Ministry had in January issued guidelines setting a 12-week deadline for security agencies to clear bidders for port infrastructure projects. A security clearance remains valid for three years, unless there is a change in shareholding pattern. The Cabinet Secretary is closely monitoring the exercise to streamline the process of granting security clearance as delay in giving approval to various projects are also being seen as "policy paralysis" in the UPA government.

(Source: Economic Times)

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