Lok Sabha passes Cos Amendment Bill

New Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday said the government has de-registered 4 lakh shell companies as the Lok Sabha approved a bill seeking to tighten CSR norms and ensuring stricter action for non- compliance of the company law regulations.

Piloting the Companies Amendment Bill 2019, the minister said companies not spending the mandatory 2 per cent profit on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities for a total period of four years will be required to deposit the amount in a special account.

The amendments in the Companies Act, she added, were aimed at improving ease of doing business and also reducing compliance burden on the companies, especially the smaller ones.

The Bill was later passed by the Lower House unanimously after Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury withdrew statutory resolution opposing it.

Responding to the concerns of members on shell companies, Sitharaman said the word "shell companies" has not been defined in the rule book, but it is loosely referred to inactive companies or those which do not maintain a registered office.