Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2020 passed

Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2020 passed

Part of: GS Prelims and GS-III – Corporates

In news

• Lok Sabha has passed the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2020, which decriminalises a number of technical and filing-related corporate offences.

Key takeaways

• It allows direct listing of Indian companies on foreign stock exchanges.
• It revokes the criminal provisions added to the Companies Act for violations of provisions of corporate social responsibility rules.
• 48 sections of the Companies Act, 2013 will be amended to decriminalise various offences. 
• However, there will be no relaxation for serious offences, including fraud, deceit and those that cause injury to the public.
• There will also be a new chapter on producer organisation which will be helpful for farmer producer organisations (FPOs) in the country.
• 17 provisions in the Companies Act, 2013, have also been amended which paves way for easy and user friendly fulfilment of statutory compliances.