(From right): THE MINISTER for Company Affairs, Mr Prem Chand Gupta; the FICCI President, Mr Saroj Kumar Poddar; the Secretary, Ministry of Company Affairs, Mr Anurag Goel; and the FICCI Past President, Mr Y.K. Modi, at a conference in the Capital on Friday. Kamal Narang

The Government is giving the final touches to the new Companies Bill and plans to introduce it during the next Budget session of Parliament, the Minister for Company Affairs, Mr Prem Chand Gupta, has said.

Addressing a conference on `Emerging trends in corporate laws', the Minister said that the Government was keen to operationalise the Competition Commission and had introduced amendments to the proposed Act, after taking into consideration the legal challenges and order of the Apex Court. The conference has been organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

Amendments

"The amendments are being considered by the Standing Committee on Finance and officials of the Ministry of Company Affairs will meet members of the Standing Committee on November 16 to take the process forward," the Minister said.

Besides, the Government is also finalising the Limited Liability Partnerships Bill and is likely to be introduced in Parliament during the forthcoming winter session.

Addressing the meeting, the Secretary, Ministry of Company Affairs, Mr Anurag Goel, said the Ministry would shortly unveil new accounting standards, which will be at par with international norms. The accounting standards would be simple and easy to implement and will cause no hardship to the corporates.

Besides, the `MCA-21' e-governance project has had a smooth transition and from September 16 this year, 80 per cent of all filings by corporates were being done from their virtual front offices.