Demand for trained company secretaries set to grow

The demand for trained company secretaries will grow six-fold once the much-awaited Companies Bill 2012 replaces the existing act which was enacted 56 years ago, according to Shujath Ali, chairman, Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), Hyderabad chapter.

India presently has 31,000 practicing company secretaries, of which 1,500 are in Andhra Pradesh. “After the proposed bill becomes law, it is likely to enhance the requirement for trained company secretaries six-fold. There will be 300,000 company secretary professionals in the next three years,” he said on Friday.

A full-day seminar was organised on ‘Curtain Raiser to Company Bill 2012’ — a capacity building activity for company secretaries and other professionals on the forthcoming Company Bill 2012 here in Hyderabad.

Addressing the gathering, P R Ramesh, chairman of Deloitte, Haskins and Sells, said, “The bill is a futuristic law. A new law is enacted when a profession does not meet expectations.”

The new Bill is yet to go through the Rajya Sabha, before it becomes an act.

The bill seeks to consolidate and amend the law relating to the companies and intends to improve corporate governance and to further strengthen regulations for corporates.