NEW DELHI: The lower house of parliament yesterday approved the Companies (Amendment) Bill 2019, which will replace the second ordinance of the Company Amendment 2019. Replying to a discussion on the bill in the Lok Sabha, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the proposed amendment to the bill is for Ease of Doing Business. The Finance Minister said that in 2013, the Congress-led UPA Government had passed the Companies Act, which has been continuously demanding amendments.

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Sitharaman said that such amendments are not brought by the government at will, but by looking at the demands of all stakeholders. On the question of some opposition members on the Ordinance that has been brought in this regard, he said that the Ordinance had to be brought back to the end of the day and it is going to end soon.

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Replying to questions from various members on the provision of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Sitharaman said that companies have been given three years time for CSR and in the first year they have to finish the decision.' He made it clear that companies earning an income of five crore rupees, doing business worth 1,000 crore rupees will have to disclose CSR activities and only clarifications will not work.

After Replying to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the Lok Sabha passed the bill by voice vote. As per the objectives and reasons of the Bill, it sought to amend clause 41 of Section 2 of the Companies Act, 2013, giving the Central Government the right to allow certain companies to have separate financial years.

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