Corporate Affairs Ministry to be 'clubbed' with Finance Ministry

NEW DELHI: After a decade of independent existence, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs ( MCA) will now be clubbed with the Finance Ministry.

"There will be clubbing. Currently the (Corporate Affairs) ministry is under me. A notification has to come," Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley said when asked whether MCA will be part of Finance Minister.

The notification to cluster MCA with Finance Ministry would be issued by the Cabinet Secretariat, he added.

Jaitley, who is also the Defence Minister, will be shuttling between the two offices. However, MCA officials will report to him at his office in the Finance Ministry.

MCA Secretary Naved Masood briefed Jaitley, who took charge of the Finance Ministry today, about the happenings in Corporate Affairs Ministry.

The corporate affairs ministry is engaged in implementing the new companies law which seeks to modernise the rules and norms regulating companies in line with the changed global corporate culture.

Finance Ministry currently has five departments under it which are - Revenue, Expenditure, Financial Services, Economic Affairs and Disinvestment.

Earlier the MCA, which was known as Department of Company Affairs, was under the Finance Ministry. In May 2004, the Department was made the Ministry of Company Affairs, with a separate Minister.

Three year later, in May 2007, it was renamed as Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA). Though seen as a low profile Ministry, MCA is implementing the revamped companies law which strives to ensure strong corporate governance and protect the interests of investors.

Besides, various institutions and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) come under the MCA. The apex bodies for chartered accountants, cost accountants and company secretaries as well as country's fair trade watchdog Competition Commission of India (CCI) are within the ambit of this Ministry.