The Companies Act, 2013 ("the Act") considered to be one of the significant legal reforms in India, aims to bring Indian Company Law in line with global standards, and focuses on governance and ease of doing business in India. The Act may further undergo substantial changes as proposed in the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2016 (the "Bill") introduced by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely in Lok Sabha on March 16, 2016.

Jaitley spoke on the series of structural reforms that have facilitated India’s high growth including large public spending on infrastructure, liberalization of investment regime, and improvement in ease of doing business. He also highlighted the focus being laid on rural development and social security, which are critical for long term development of the country. 

With Tuesday’s cut-off date for the World Bank’s ease of doing business rankings for 2017, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) will be eager to see the impact its policies have had on India’s rankings.

Mint looks at some of the parameters that are part of the ease of doing business index and the steps taken by the Indian government over the past one year to improve its performance on the same.

The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on Thursday said India was expected to remain the fastest growing large economy of the world, adding that it was likely to register a GDP growth of around 8% in 2016-17. Unveiling CII's theme for 2016-17 of 'Building National Competitiveness', Forbes said that to build national competitiveness, the CII had laid emphasis on six key areas: human development, corporate integrity and good citizenship, ease of doing business, innovation and technical capability, sustainability and global integration.

Aarthi Sivanandh, Partner, JSA, a leading law firm in the country, shares her thought on the amendment to the bilateral Double Taxation Avoidance Treaty with Mauritius, its impact on foreign investment flow, and the future direction. 

The Rajya Sabha on Wednesday gave its assent to the new bankruptcy code, almost a week later after it was passed by the lower house of the Parliament, clearing the law that provides for speedy resolution of bankrupt businesses. 

The bill seeks to bring a host of regulatory changes to build a robust and faster insolvency resolution mechanism besides setting up of an Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India. 

In a move to expedite the process of resolving the debt issues burdening the creditors including banks and financial institutions, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley introduced the Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debt Laws and Miscellaneous Provisions (Amendment) Bill, 2016 in the Lok Sabha.

The crisis situation with judicial burden is occupying a high mindshare in the policy space and public discourse - perhaps thanks to the "emotional appeal" by the Chief Justice of India, which was misreported widely as an "emotional breakdown". While the symptoms of the crisis are obvious, the diagnosis of what ails the justice system is by and large adversarial.