Companies Act 2013 - Notificationof significant sections wef 01.04.2014

Today, The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) has notified 183 new sections of the Companies Act 2013 and some sub- sections of 13 sections which were already notified by notification dated 12th September 2013 and remaining schedule, in the fourth phase today, by way of notification dated 26th March 2014. These sections have been notified to come into effect from 1st April 2014. With the notification of these sections, now a total of 283 sections of the new Act stand notified.

With the notification of aforesaid sections, it can be assumed that relevant rules will also be notified shortly as most of them are dependent on rules.

The sections remaining to be notified are related to National Financial Reporting Authority, Investor and Education Protection Fund, Compromise and arrangement, oppression and mismanagement, winding up, sick companies ,special courts, national company law tribunal. Majority of these sections are not notified due to pending case in Supreme court with respect to the National Company Law Tribunal.

RBI to withdraw bank notes issued prior to 2005 wef 01.04.2014

The Reserve Bank of India has today advised that after March 31, 2014, it will completely withdraw from circulation all banknotes issued prior to 2005. From April 1, 2014, the public will be required to approach banks for exchanging these notes. Banks will provide exchange facility for these notes until further communication. The Reserve Bank further stated that public can easily identify the notes to be withdrawn as the notes issued before 2005 do not have on them the year of printing on the reverse side.

(Please see illustration below)

IllustrationFigure 1: Banknote on which the year of printing is not indicated and will be
WITHDRAWN after March 31, 2014

Figure 2: Banknote on which the year of printing is indicated and will therefore not be withdrawn
The Reserve Bank has also clarified that the notes issued before 2005 will continue to be legal tender. This would mean that banks are required to exchange the notes for their customers as well as for non-customers. From July 01, 2014, however,  to exchange more than 10 pieces of `500 and `1000 notes, non-customers will have to furnish proof of identity and residence to the bank branch in which she/he wants to exchange the notes.

The Reserve Bank has appealed to the public not to panic. They are requested to actively co-operate in the withdrawal process.

RBI extends Time to close exim deals extended

Liberalising the export-import payment norms, the Reserve Bank today extended the time limit to complete such transactions to nine months from six months earlier. "The entire merchanting or intermediary trade transactions should be completed within an overall period of nine months and there should not be any outlay of foreign exchange beyond four months," RBI said in a notification. Among others, the RBI said such transactions should be routed through the same bank and the banks should verify the documents for genuineness of trade.