Finance Ministry, NFRA Officials Brief Par Panel on Corporate Laws Amendment Bill

1. The bill seeks to ease doing business and modernise corporate governance.

2. Minor procedural defaults may shift from criminal liability to monetary penalties.

3. The panel is reviewing stakeholder views on the proposed amendments.

Finance ministry officials and the National Financial Reporting Authority (NFRA) on Wednesday briefed a joint committee of Parliament on a bill to amend corporate laws.

The Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026, seeks to amend the Limited Liability Partnership (LLP) Act, 2008, and the Companies Act to facilitate ease of doing business, decriminalise minor procedural defaults and modernise the country's corporate governance architecture.

The Joint Committee on the Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill, headed by BJP member Sudheer Gupta, is examining the bill.

The panel has been gathering views from various stakeholders on the proposed changes in the laws.

On Wednesday, NFRA Chairperson Nitin Gupta briefed the panel with regard to the bill. The regulator's Full Time Member Smita Jhingran and other officials were also present at the meeting.

NFRA comes under the administrative control of the corporate affairs ministry.

Finance ministry officials also briefed the committee on the bill.

Various Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha members, including P P Chaudhary, Supriya Sule, Nishikant Dubey and Vivek Tankha, part of the panel, were present at the meeting.

The committee, earlier this month, invited views and suggestions on the bill from various stakeholders and experts.

Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, on March 23, introduced the bill in the Lok Sabha, which was then referred to the committee.

The proposed amendments are expected to rationalise penalties, shift several minor procedural lapses from criminal liability to monetary penalties, and streamline regulatory processes to promote ease of doing business.

The reforms are also aimed at improving the overall corporate compliance framework while reducing litigation and encouraging a more facilitative regulatory environment for companies and LLPs.