General Circular No: 22/2011; Government of India- Ministry of Corporate Affairs; Dated: 2nd May, 2011
All Regional Directors; All Registrars of Companies
Subject: Clarification in respect of General Circular No: 2 /2011 dated 8th February,2011
It has been observed that certain companies are seeking clarification in respect of circular No. 2/11 dated 8.2.2011 issued by the Ministry in respect of exemption u/s 212 (8) of the Companies Act, 1956. The point raised is in respect of applicability of condition No. (ii) of the circular, requesting the Ministry to delete the condition in respect of unlisted companies as this condition is applicable to listed companies as per SEBI guidelines.
2. The Ministry is aware of the limited scope of the SEBI Rule. However, the decision has been taken to ensure transparency in those cases where balance sheets of subsidiaries are not attached.
3. In this regard, it is clarified that companies which desire to take benefit of exemption allowed under this circular would have to fulfill the conditions stipulated therein even if they are unlisted.
Yours faithfully
(Rita Dogra)
Under Secretary to the Govt. of India.
GENERAL CIRCULAR No: 2 /2011 AS MENTIONED ABOVE IS REPRODUCED BELOW FOR READY REFERENCE
No: 51/12/2007-CL-III
Government of India
Ministry of Corporate Affairs
5th floor, `A’ Wing, Shastri Bhavan, Dr. R.P. Road, New Delhi-110 001.
Dated: 8th February, 2011
To
All Regional Directors
All Registrar of Companies
Subject: Direction under Section 212(8) of the Companies Act, 1956.
Sir,
It has been noticed that a large number of companies are approaching the Ministry for exemption under Section 212(8) of the Companies Act, 1956. The matter was examined in the context of the globalizing Indian economy, the increased number of subsidiaries, and the introduction of accounting standards on consolidated financial statements. It has been decided to grant a general exemption provided certain conditions are fulfilled.
The Central Government hereby directs that provisions of Section 212 shall not apply in relation to subsidiaries of those companies which fulfil the following conditions:-
(i) The Board of Directors of the Company has by resolution given consent for not attaching the balance sheet of the subsidiary concerned;
(ii) The company shall present in the annual report, the consolidated financial statements of holding company and all subsidiaries duly audited by its statutory auditors;
(iii) The consolidated financial statement shall be prepared in strict compliance with applicable Accounting Standards and, where applicable, Listing Agreement as prescribed by the Security and Exchange Board of India;
(iv) The company shall disclose in the consolidated balance sheet the following information in aggregate for each subsidiary including subsidiaries of subsidiaries:- (a) capital (b) reserves (c) total assets (d) total liabilities (e) details of investment (except in case of investment in the subsidiaries) (f) turnover (g) profit before taxation (h) provision for taxation (i) profit after taxation (j) proposed dividend;
(v) The holding company shall undertake in its annual report that annual accounts of the subsidiary companies and the related detailed information shall be made available to shareholders of the holding and subsidiary companies seeking such information at any point of time. The annual accounts of the subsidiary companies shall also be kept for inspection by any shareholders in the head office of the holding company and of the subsidiary companies concerned and a note to the above effect will be included in the annual report of the holding company. The holding company shall furnish a hard copy of details of accounts of subsidiaries to any shareholder on demand;
(vi) The holding as well as subsidiary companies in question shall regularly file such data to the various regulatory and Government authorities as may be required by them;
(vii) The company shall give Indian rupee equivalent of the figures given in foreign currency appearing in the accounts of the subsidiary companies along with exchange rate as on closing day of the financial year;
Yours faithfully
(Jaikant Singh) Director
