Corporate Affairs Minister Prem Chand Gupta said the Company Bill, 2008 is expected to be passed in the next Parliament session in December.

‘Hopefully, the Company Bill, 2008 will be passed in the next Parliament session in December,’ Mr Gupta told reporters.

Since 1956, when the present Companies Act was formed, there have been 25 amendments to it, some small and some substantial.

Mr Gupta said such piecemeal changes, however, seemed inadequate and always wanting in a globalising corporate world that continuously created the need for redefining of not only regulations but also corporate governance practices.

‘We need to have an easy-to-comply, yet meaningful regulatory regime for forms of business organisation and conduct. So, we have decided to go for a comprehensive revision of the 1956 Act and hence the Companies Bill 2008,’ the Minister had said.

There are over 7 lakh registered companies as against just 30,000 in 1956.

Inaugurating the five-day ‘International Conference on Accountancy Profession -- Shining Bridge Between Global Economies’ organised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), he emphasised the need to have better accounting and reporting system in view of the current financial crisis.

The Minister appreciated the role of the Chartered Accountants, saying their roles will become more important in the time to come.

Commenting on the impact of global financial crisis on Indian economy, he said the country is insulated from the crisis due to its tight regulatory system and government’s timely intervention.

Headquartered in Delhi, the world’s second largest accounting body ICAI is a statutory body set up in 1949, under an Act of Parliament, for regulation of the profession of Chartered Accountancy in the country.

ICAI operates through five regional offices and 117 branches all across the country and 21 overseas Chapters.

UNI