Companies Act

This paper is an attempt to know and understand the extent to which the newly introduced mandatory Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) under Companies Act 2013 as a socially responsible initiative is capable of bringing positive social and environmental changes to bridge the welfare gap in India. For this study data has been collected from various secondary sources including journals, articles, newspapers and various research based websites. Indian companies have a crucial role to play in uprooting all the causes of social unrest to bring a sea change in the social upliftment by means of needful contribution towards CSR activities as per the societal expectations. The regulatory framework for CSR in India in form of section 135 of the Companies Act, 2013 read together with the Companies (Corporate Social Responsibility Policy) Rule, 2014 and the amendment to the schedule VII of the said act encourages the giant companies to contribute towards needful development activities in India giving preference to the area of its establishment in a structured manner through a mandatory CSR commitment. In order to bridge social welfare, gap the Companies Act, 2013 is promoting greater transparency and disclosure through its disclose-orexplain mandate. Schedule VII of the Act makes the communities focal point of CSR projects. According to a survey carried out by Forbes India, only 6 out of the top 100 companies of India (ranked on the basis of net sales figures) contributed more than 2% of their profits after taxes towards CSR initiatives As India is one of the largest growing economies globally, number of companies with higher profitability falling into the ambit of CSR provision will keep on growing which is a clear sign of positive social and environmental changes towards welfare of the society attracting thousands of crores for gigantic social welfare measures in upcoming years

In Daniel Puchniak and Tan Cheng Han, “Company Law” (2012) 13 SAL Ann Rev 143-152 at [9.25], the writers raised questions over whether "good faith" should be a separate requirement under Section 216A of the Singapore Companies Act. In response, I submit the following. First, the “good faith” requirement should be retained in the legislation because it helps to prevent an abuse of the SDA and addresses separate concerns from that of the “interests of the company” requirement. Secondly, it may be helpful to list the “good faith” requirement in conjunction with the “interests of the company” requirement, as opposed to the listing the good faith requirement as a separate limb under Section 216A. This will however require a comprehensive single legal test that can enable the court to achieve the legislative intent of preventing an abuse of the SDA.

A company is known to be a separate legal personality 1 or a corporate body in nature. Sri Lankan's Companies Act No 07 of 2007 2 states a company is being a "body which is incorporated" with its registration. A Company have characteristics other than an individual person own 3. As ; it could own an everlasting existence until the company is being dissolved and do have owner to its legal personality while having no physical structure of body and have no way to act or think by its own as it does not have a logical mind to do so 4 .Having no physical existence, a need for a natural person 5 arise as the company's decisions cannot be done solitarily. The character of the Director comes into the scenario as such.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), as a concept, has been the focus of deliberations and research over the past many years. India has a long history of individual and corporate philanthropy and the concept has been integral to Indian culture and value system since ancient times albeit informally. With the enactment of Companies Act in the year 2013 and subsequent amendments there to, the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has entered a new phase of evolution i.e. from being a voluntary activity to a statutory responsibility. Section 135 of the said Act mandates CSR contribution from every company that meets the prescribed threshold limits of net worth, turnover or profits. However, there are some grey areas in this provision and related rules which need further clarification for more efficient implementation of the Act. This paper discusses the concept of CSR and its evolution, pros and cons of mandated vis-à-vis voluntary CSR and issues and challenges involved in implementing the provisions of the Act and related rules. The paper also makes suggestions as to how these challenges and inadequacies can be resolved so that the objectives of the Act can be fully achieved

The importance and contribution of derivative litigation to the effectiveness and credibility of a jurisdiction's corporate governance system is indisputable. There is a positive correlation between good corporate governance practices, which include shareholders’ rights, and investors’ return on their investments. On the one hand, an overly pro-shareholder derivative scheme is vulnerable to abuse and results in unnecessary interference with company management. This may, in turn, discourage directors from entrepreneurial risk-taking and undermine enterprise efficiency. On the other hand, a complex and ineffective system of derivative litigation protects errant directors and decreases investor confidence. This article is a critical assessment of Zimbabwe's recently adopted statutory derivative remedy. The analysis focuses on five locus standi-related aspects of the new statutory derivative regime. The article highlights some major weaknesses within Zimbabwe's statutory rem...

The aim of this paper is to review the status of corporate CSR practices in a large Maharatna company in India, by critically appraising the resource application in the spectrum of focus areas, Schedule VII of the CSR rules, and the consequent impacts. The study focuses on the geographic spread of social investments over a period of time. Finally, the study explores the extent of social implications due to CSR initiatives. For the purpose of the study, we selected IOCL, a major oil and gas company, and the largest corporate identity in India in terms of turnover. The findings showed that through its social development activities, besides major CSR projects, its CSR initiatives have touched millions of lives by providing various infrastructure and grassroots development activities in the focus areas identified in the CSR policy of the company. Provision of water facilities; infrastructure at hospitals, schools, colleges, and skill development institutes/industrial training institutes; and setting up sports facilities across the country were some of the projects undertaken by IOCL. Environment-related initiatives like providing LPG connection to the disadvantaged section of society, improving sanitation, health, and livelihood, and providing livelihood generation skills stand tall among various initiatives undertaken. However, the investments are concentrated in and around the operating area, as per policy, in synchronisation with the prevailing act, thereby creating spatial inequality.