New laws to enhance oversight in public, private sector in winter session: Moily

With a view to bringing about transparency in procurement of raw materials in the public sector and efficiency in corporate governance, the government will table two important bills in parliament in the winter session.

According to union minister for company affairs, Veerappa Moily, the government would introduce the public procurement policy and the company law bill in the winter session. The government is in the process of framing the competition policy, which is expected to be finalised in November.

Moily said though the amount spent by the government on procurement of raw materials ran into nearly Rs11 lakh crore annually, a proper policy to monitor the procurement was not in place. He added even countries like Pakistan and Nepal had such a procurement policy. He said such a policy would be instrumental in cutting corruption by nearly 50 per cent.

Regarding the Company Law Bill, it would be implemented by December and it would establish a proper system and mechanism, he said. He added this would bring about accountability and transparency to a great extent.

Moily said it would require a major surgery in the corporate sector to bring transparency and accountability.

"The recent scams like Satyam have affected the credibility of the nation among global investors. It is expected that the new company law could tackle corruption in the corporate sector to an extend," he said.

''Our aim is to make business in India the best. We have to restore credibility among investors on the corporate sector, which was hit by recent scams and scandals.''

Competition policy, which was first implemented in 2002 had a number of flaws according to the minister. He said the policy would become law by December 2012.