BANGALORE: The e-governance project mooted by the Ministry of Company Affairs is expected to become operational by next year. Delivering the inaugural address at a conference on 'Corporate governance: The Changing Landscape, Minister of State for Company Affairs Prem Chand Gupta said the computerisation project, which had been handed over to TCS, was expected to facilitate various processes and ensure speed and efficiency. Once the computerisation process was over, the corporate sector could get most of the work done online, including registration of companies and payment of fees, he said. The only problem being faced in the project was the question of stamp duty, which was a state subject. However, the ministry has taken up the issue and the project was expected to be put in place by the middle of next year. The MCA was keenly looking forward to speeding up its programmes and further enhancing its efficiency once it was e-connected, the minister said 'Underlining the need for simplification of procedures, Gupta said the ministry had been charting out various programmes to simplify the complicated rules and procedures to make them 'understandable' and 'implementable'.

On the liquidation process for companies, he said there were cases that were pending since pre-independence days.
Calling for expediting the cases, he said there were nearly 53 cases pending in various courts. The ministry was keen on resolving them but most of them depended on the court. The issue for shortening the process had been taken up.

The Ministry was also keen on simplifying the exit rules for companies, Gupta said adding, there were nearly 6,75,000 companies registered, out of which 35 to 40 per cent had not filed their papers and even their existence was doubtful.
"We want to simplify the procedures for such companies who wish to exit," Gupta said. The companies that had not done business for three years could have their names struck off after filing their statement of account and other dues.
He said there were three crore cases pending in different courts, out of which 50,000 were of minor technical violations. The ministry was considering resolving them by imposition of some penalty
Gupta hoped that the new Companies Bill, that envisaged simplification of procedures and regulations making things understandable and implementable, would be passed by next year.

On the issue of the percentage of independent directors on a company's board, Gupta said the issue must be seen in the context of the Indian corporate sector and not on the Western model. There were varying suggestions from different business organisations on the issue, he said.
On corporate governance, Gupta said business leaders must evolve modalities to involve the 'have-nots' as well because if prosperity did not trickle down and regional imbalance continued, the environment would become conducive for growth of extremism.

"We must not follow the Western model blindly because the US economy is different from the Indian economy. Unlike the West, nearly 90 per cent of enterprises were family-owned", he said, adding, it was not enough to introduce rules and regulations for corporate governances.
There was need to ensure that the machinery and regulations were in line with the best practices in the world and implemented well