Introduction

The Companies Act, 2013

The Companies Bill, 2012 was assented to by the President of India on 29.08.2013 and was notified in the Gazette of India on 30.08.2013, thereinafter it became the Companies Act, 2013. Date-wise summary of some of the important aspects are given below:

• Passed in Lok Sabha– December 18, 2012
• Passed in Rajya Sabha – August 08, 2013
• President’s assent – August 29, 2013
• Total number of sections – 470
• Total number of chapters – 29
• Total number of schedules – 7

Applicability of the Act

The provisions of this Act shall apply to—

(a) Companies incorporated under this Act or under any previous company law;

(b) Insurance companies, except in so far as the said provisions are inconsistent with the provisions of the Insurance Act, 1938 (4 of 1938) or the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority Act, 1999 (41 of 1999);

(c) banking companies, except in so far as the said provisions are inconsistent with the provisions of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (10 of 1949);

(d) companies engaged in the generation or supply of electricity, except in so far as the said provisions are inconsistent with the provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003 (36 of 2003);

(e) any other company governed by any special Act for the time being in force, except in so far as the said provisions are inconsistent with the provisions of such special Act; and

(f) such body corporate, incorporated by any Act for the time being in force, as the Central Government may, by notification, specify in this behalf, subject to such exceptions, modifications or adaptation, as may be specified in the notification. [Sub-Section (4) of Section 1 of Companies Act, 2013]

Many New Concepts has been introduced in The Companies Act, 2013. It includes the following aspects:-

• Associate company
• One person company
• Small company
• Dormant company
• Independent director
• Women director
• Resident director
• Special court
• Secretarial standards
• Secretarial audit
• Class action
• Registered valuers
• Rotation of auditors
• Vigil mechanism
• Corporate social responsibility
• Cross border mergers
• Prohibition of insider training

Detailed analysis of the above topics will be done in future posts.

Disclaimer: The entire content of this document have been prepared as per the information existing at the time of the preparation. The blog is based on author’s personal views and the author does not take any responsibility of the same.