Ziraat Times News Desk
New Delhi, January 2: The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has recorded significant progress in strengthening India’s corporate governance framework and improving ease of doing business during 2025, with wide-ranging reforms spanning mergers and acquisitions, insolvency resolution, investor protection, and regulatory simplification.
Major Policy and Legislative Reforms
As part of its year-end review, the Ministry highlighted key amendments and initiatives undertaken during the year. Among the most notable was the expansion of the Fast Track Merger and Demerger framework under the Companies Act, 2013. In line with the Union Budget 2025–26, amendments notified on September 4, 2025, extended fast-track merger provisions to unlisted companies, holding and subsidiary companies, and certain group entities, significantly reducing procedural timelines and compliance costs.
The Ministry also amended the Companies (Removal of Names of Companies from the Register of Companies) Rules, 2016, easing the process for closure of government companies under Section 248(2). The revised norms allow authorised government officials to submit indemnity bonds on behalf of such entities, enabling faster exits for non-operational public sector entities.
Ease of Compliance and Regulatory Simplification
Several compliance-related reforms were introduced to reduce regulatory burden:
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The threshold for classification as a small company was enhanced to ₹10 crore paid-up capital and ₹100 crore turnover.
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Annual KYC requirements for directors were simplified, replacing yearly filings with a once-in-three-years KYC update, effective from March 31, 2026.
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General Circulars were issued to ease transition to the MCA V3 platform, extend filing deadlines, and permit conduct of AGMs and EGMs through Video Conferencing (VC) or Other Audio-Visual Means (OAVM).
