India: the Companies Bill 2009

Last year the Companies Bill 2008 was introduced in the Lok Sabha but did not become law. The Corporate Affairs Minister (Shri Salman Khurshid) has announced, in response to a question in the Lok Sabha, that the Bill will be reintroduced in Parliament as the Companies Bill 2009. A report in the Economic Times suggests that this will happen this week and that changes will be made to the Bill following events at Satyam. 

A copy of the Bill will be available here. The Bill will make wide ranging changes. For background information, see this Government announcement which explained the purpose of the 2008 Bill (a copy of which, as introduced, is available here). The Bill is being introduced following recommendations in the 2005 Irani Report on company law.