The World Trade Center Kochi organized a “Seminar on Companies (Amendment) Act, 2019” at the Four Points by Sheraton, Infopark.  The seminar discussed the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2019 that came into effect in July 2019 and replaced the earlier ordinances with certain additional amendments. The Act is expected to significantly affect corporate compliances and litigation in India. The forum had participation from Chartered Accountants, Certified Management Accountants, Tax and Compliance Team members from corporates etc. There were discussions on enhancement of financial threshold for compounding of offences by the Regional Director, MCA, debarring erring auditors, powers of the Central Government and NCLT in case of oppression and mismanagement etc. Mr. M. R. Bhat Regional Director (SR), MCA, Chennai was the Chief Guest at the event. He was joined by Mr. G.C. Yadav, Registrar of Companies (ROC), Ernakulam and Mr. V.M. Prasanth, Deputy Registrar of Companies. Ms. Deepa Bhatia Chirayath, Leader-Entity Governance and Compliance and Mr. Anoop Deshpande, Manager (Tax & Regulatory), PwC India spoke during the programme. Mr. Bhat in his inaugural address said that India is bettering its ranking in the ease of doing business index released by World Bank.  He termed the Central Registration Centre (CRC) as MCA' s radical step to ensure uniformity  and also acts as a single point for multiple filings like PAN, ESI, Corporate and Fiscal registrations. He added that companies are now registered within a span of 3 days with no charges (for companies with authorized capital not exceeding 15 lakhs). According to Mr. Bhat, the Startups will also benefit from new amendents like - relaxation in minimum voting rights (25% to 74%), ESOP exception for startups as prescribed in the amendment act for 10 years. Mr. Bhat said that the Companies Act 2013 was a landmark as it came after 1956 companies Act. He opined that laws must have permanency and stability and only then compliance can be ensured. He added that there are only two mandatory forms for companies to get registered and this itself justifies the fact the Government is simplifying the process. Mr. G.C. Yadav, Registrar of Companies Ernakulam, in his address opined that along with ease of doing business, ease of working for practicing professionals needs to be improved. He conveyed that the Ministry is working towards easing work life of professionals and the contributions from Company Secretaries and Professionals are always welcome. He also assured the participants all support to smoothen the process. Ms. Deepa Bhatia and Mr.Anoop Deshpande during their presentation listed the key objectives of the Companies Act 2019 as - 1. Decriminalization of certain offences (being categorised as defaults), De - clogging the NCLT(National Company Law Tribunal) and De - curbing shell companies. Mr. Vivek George, Manager, World Trade Center and Mr. Prasanth Chandrasekharan, Vice President, IDFC First Bank also spoke.