Rise in demand for Company Secretaries

Hyderabad: The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) feels that following the full implementation of the Companies Act 2013 and the new Secretarial Audit provisions, there would be a sharp rise in demand for new company secretaries.

"Currently, about 3,500 fresh company secretaries pass out every year, which more or less takes care of the present demand. But the need for more company secretaries will arise in the coming years," Atul H Mehta, president of the institute, told media persons here on Wednesday.

On the Secretarial Audit programme, he said it was industry-friendly and was akin to a regular health check-up of companies and enterprises. "It will bring down litigation and mitigate the risk of exposure to liabilities," he said. For example, bank NPAs develop over a period of time and regular secretarial audits could prevent build-up of NPAs, he said.

Mehta was confident that the industry will be happy to accept this concept of secretarial audit in the next one or two years.

Earlier addressing the seminar he said, 'It is very important for students and professionals to understand and learn about the changes that have been made in the Companies Act, 2013.'

He was addressing a seminar organised by the ICSI Hyderabad Chapter on 'Secretarial Audit'. 'While company secretaries play an important role in organisations, effective team work with other professionals will help us define our position better. Capacity building programmes offered by the ICSI will further help students understand the Act,' he said.

Speaking about the 2013 Companies Act, Mehta said the new Act was a blessing which would help companies finding it tough to operate within the old law which was not in sync with the global business practices.'The law now helps project companies to the stakeholders and addresses good governance and other such practices seriously.

Special Guest B.N. Harish, Regional Director (South Eastern Region), Ministry of Corporate Affairs delivering address said that the Secretarial Audit is the need of the hour to better regulation and compliance of companies and bring more transparency the way the companies work.

On the sidelines Ahlada Rao Program Director Hyderabad informed of the proposed Centre of excellence for which three acres of land has been provided by APIIC and the construction has already begun. This would be the second centre of excellence after Mumbai in the country. He said that Secretarial audit will be friendly and will reduce the litigation costs and mitigate risks.

Mehta added that presently there are restrictions on loans and deposits but there are proposals and recommendations to modify the act to remove these restrictions which is pending before parliament. The inaugural function was attended by Nagendra Rao, Chairman Southern India Regional Council of ICSI, Issac Raj, Chairman Hyderabad Chapter.