Govt to table Companies Bill this week

"I am introducing the new Companies Bill in Parliament this week," he said. The new Companies Bill envisages to provide greater shareholder democracy and is simpler and more concise than the earlier one, according to the minister.

The Companies Bill, which has already received the nod of the Cabinet, makes it mandatory to have 33 per cent of independent directors on the board of a listed company and has made various provisions relating to mergers and acquisitions and formation simpler and easy.

Gupta said apart from the Companies Bill, it is expected that the Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) Bill would also be passed in the ongoing session of Parliament.

LLP will enable the professional expertise and entrepreneurial initiative to combine, organise and operate in an innovative and efficient manner. "The bill was introduced in Parliament last year," he added.

Referring to the Competition Commission of India, he said the body was expected to be fully functional and established by the year-end, which would enable effective competition regulation.

The Competition Act was passed in 2002, but the Act has not become functional to date due to non-appointment of Chairman and members of the Commission.

Further, the minister said that MCA has taken a series of organisational reforms to rejuvenate the corporate regulation and service delivery machinery of the ministry.