Over 7,000 Company Secys May Lose Jobs

More than 7,000 company secretaries will lose their jobs in case the recommendations of the working group on the Companies Act, 1956, are accepted. The estimate is based on an internal evaluation by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI).

The expert panel has recommended that companies with a paid-up capital of less than Rs 2 crore should not be required to engage the full-time services of a company secretary. This is a four-fold rise from the current threshold of Rs 50 lakh.

Instead, a certificate by a practicing company secretary that the company has fulfilled all secretarial requirements under company law would suffice. This certificate would have to be filed with the registrar of companies as part of the annual returns.

 

The committee has recommended secretarial compliance following pleas by small firms that they do not have sufficient work for full-time company secretaries, but are mandatorily forced to hire them.

However, suggestions have been made that secretarial compliance should not be linked to the paid-up equity of a company but the number of shareholders to be serviced.

The ICSI is expected to lobby the government against the panels recommendations.

This would make it the second professional body to oppose the working groups report after the Institute of Cost and Work Accountants of India.