| Ordinance gives Irda more teeth |
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New Delhi, 27 December The insurance ordinance promulgated by the President gives more teeth to the insurance regulator, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA). As per a release by the finance ministry, the newly ordained ordinance gives IRDA room to enhance regulations in areas of solvency, investments and keep a strict vigil on the expenses and commissions given out to middlemen and agents. "The ordinance will also substantially enhance penalty provisions to ensure compliance with insurance laws by companies, which is essential to uphold the consumer interest," said a release by the ministry. The ordinance was approved by the Cabinet and signed by the President to enhance the foreign equity cap from 26 per cent to 49 per cent with proper safeguards on control of the insurance companies by the Indian entities. |
| Govt not to exemptunlisted firms from auditor- rotation rule |
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New Delhi, 27 December The ministry of corporate affairs ( MCA) has ruled out exempting unlisted companies or those that have not raised any money from the markets from the auditor- rotation rule made compulsory in the Companies Act of 2013. "We do not have any plans to exempt these companies from this provision," said an MCA official who did not wish to be named. According to the new Companies Act, the companies shall not appoint an auditor for more than five years. Similarly, the auditor firm shall not be hired for more than two consecutive periods — each of up to five years. "This provision was introduced to break the monopoly of the big four audit companies —KPMG, E& Y, Price WaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte," said a prominent chartered accountant. Also, taking cues from the Satyam scam, the government feared an auditor would lose objectivity if he worked with a company for a long time. Private firms, unlisted ones or those that have not raised funding from the public have not been excluded from this provision. Company professionals, though, say this provision for private firms does not make much sense. "They ( such companies) have no minority shareholders to be taken care of," said Jamil Khatri, global head of accounting advisory services, KPMG. Private firms in general were very small, he added. So, professionals feared this would add to unnecessary compliance costs for companies. Besides, the new Act provision caps the number of companies an auditor can audit in a financial year at 20 is not going to be diluted. The government has also decided not to increase the time period of five years for an auditor and 10 years for an audit firm. " This time period of 10 years is very little, as it takes two- three years for an auditor to only understand the operations, risks and controls of a company," said Khatri. Time period for the rotation not to be increased NEW COMPANIES ACT |The firms shall not appoint an auditor for more than 5 years |Auditor firm shall not be hired for more than 2 consecutive periods — each of up to 5years |It caps the number of firms an auditor can audit in a financial year at 20 is not going to be diluted |Govt has decided not to increase the time period of 5 years for an auditor and 10 years for an audit firm |
Source Business Line
Labour reforms for the unorganised sector a priority: Minister
OUR BUREAU
Pathetic'situation of the tea garden workers in West Bengal, Assam a major concern
KOLKATA, DEC 27:
Labour reforms for the unorganised sector is a priority for the Narendra Modi government. And steps are being accordingly taken in this regard by the Centre, the Union Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Bandaru Dattatreya, said here.
According to him, some of the steps taken include the setting up of the Shram Suvidha Portal (SSP) where a unique labour identity number will be provided to workers (in the unorganised sector) of various establishments.
Dattatreya was in the city to attend the Srei organised event, World Confluence of Humanity, Power and Spirituality.
"My focus area will be the unorganised sector. We have taken a new initiative, the Shram Suvidha Portal (SSP), that will help provide labour identity number (LIN) to the establishments", he said.
So far, labour identity numbers have been provided by the Centre to 7.5 lakh institutions. The numbers will go up soon.
According to Dattatreya, steps are being taken to further decentralise labour services with the Central government allotting a Universal Account Number (UAN).
The UAN is a portable number which gives the members greater control over their money and links EPF and ESI services.
Meeting
The Union Minister claimed that he has already invited his State counterpart, Moloy Ghatak, to Delhi to discuss various matters including labour unrest.
He maintained that one of the major areas of concern for his department was the "pathetic" situation of the plantation (tea gardens) workers in West Bengal and Assam.
The Labour, along with the Commerce Ministry was looking at various schemes to help uplift the workers conditions, the Union Minister pointed out.
(This article was published on December 27, 2014)
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