Lok Sabha Question No. 1562 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-02-09
Subject: Standard of Corporate Governance
Ministry: CORPORATE AFFAIRS
Asked by: Shri Tariq Anwar

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1562 ANSWERED ON MONDAY, 9th FEBRUARY 2026

## STANDARD OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

†1562. Shri Tariq Anwar:

Will the Minister of CORPORATE AFFAIRS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has carried out any study or data to assess the standards of corporate governance  of  companies registered in different States, particularly Bihar compared with the national average, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government has identified State-specific challenges  in  implementing  the  provisions  of  the  Companies  Act, 2013,  such  as  workload  or  resource  constraints  of  Registrar  of Companies (RoC) offices in Bihar and if so, the details of the plan formulated to address the same; and
- (c) whether  the  Government  is  carrying  out  any  coordination  or capacity building through different programmes with various State Governments to ensure uniform implementation of corporate laws across States especially to promote investment and ease of doing business and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

Minister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs; Minister of State in the Ministry of Road Transport And Highways:

(SHRI HARSH MALHOTRA)

- (a): No such study has been carried out by this Ministry.

(b):   No State-specific challenges in implementation of the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 have been reported. Further there are no constraints in the working of Office of Registrar of Companies, Bihar. (c):  The Central Government has taken various measures to facilitate Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) as per Annexure, which are applicable to all States/Union Territories.  The Offices of Regional Director(s) and Registrar of Companies (RoCs) also coordinate with the States and  Union  Territories  falling  under  their  respective  jurisdiction  to address the needs / requirements of the States/ Union Territories. and  State (REIC) meetings held at regular intervals for information sharing and actions

Further, they also interact with various regulators authorities in Regional Economic Intelligence Council by respective authorities.

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In reply to Part (c) of Lok Sabha Unstarred Question No. 1562.

- (i) Decriminalization of 63 offences under the Companies and LLP Acts. While providing relief to corporates, one of the objectives of decriminalization  has  also  been  reduction  of  litigation  burden  in judicial courts and shifting the prosecution cases towards adjudication, further lower the compliance burden, Section 446B of the Companies Act, 2013, provides for significantly lesser penalties for small companies.
- (ii) Conversion of more than 54 forms to Straight Through Process (STP) which earlier required approval of field offices.
- (iii) Introducing  e-Form  SPICe+  along  with  a  linked  form  called AGILE PRO-S for providing different services at one place such as Name Reservation, Incorporation, Allotment of PAN, TAN, DIN, EPFO Registration,  ESIC  Registration,  GST  number,  opening  of  Bank Account etc. at the time of incorporation of company to start the business immediately. Similarly, new  e-Form  FiLLiP (Form for incorporation  of  Limited  Liability  Partnership)  was  introduced  for providing the same services in a single application.
- (iv) With effect from 1st December 2025, the thresholds for small company  have  been  enhanced.  The  paid-capital  criteria  has  been increased from up to Rs. 4 crores to up to Rs. 10 crores and turnover criteria has been increased from up to Rs. 40 crores to up to Rs. 100 crores. This brings more number of companies under the definition of small company, which are subject to lesser compliance requirements in comparison to larger companies.
- (v) Setting up of a Centralized Registrar of Companies (CRC) for incorporation to provide uniformity in the incorporation process.
- (vi) Setting up of a Central Scrutiny Centre (CSC) for centralised scrutiny of e-Forms filed under STP .
- (vii)Setting  up  a  Central  Processing  Centre  (CPC)  for  centralised processing of specified non-STP e-forms.

(viii) Setting up an e-Adjudication Portal for adjudication of offences related to the Companies Act. (ix) Zero fee for incorporation of company with authorized capital up to Rs.15.00 Lakh. (x) The  Government  has  introduced  MSME  Form  I  for  reporting outstanding payments beyond 45 days to Micro and Small enterprises by companies, promoting prompt payment to MSMEs, and ensuring transparency in transactions involving small vendors and suppliers. (xi) Further,  small  companies  and  start-ups  are  provided  with certain common compliance relaxations under the Companies Act, 2013 with the objective of reducing regulatory burden and facilitating ease  of  doing  business.  For  both  categories,  the  requirement  of including a cash flow statement as part of the financial statements has been made optional. Further, in cases where a company does not have  a  company secretary,  the  annual  return  may  be  signed  by  a director of the company. In addition, flexibility has been granted with respect to meetings of the Board of Directors, whereby both small companies and start-ups are permitted to hold two board meetings in a calendar year, i.e., one meeting in each half of the year, instead of the  general  requirement  of  holding  four  board  meetings  annually, subject to the prescribed minimum gap between such meetings.

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