The weekly messenger | Edition 04.19

Auditing News

GN on Audit of Banks (2019 edition) - 17 January 2019

 
The Auditing and Assurance Standards Board (AASB) of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has issued the Guidance Note (GN) on Audit of Banks (2019 Edition), incorporating the impact of the recent developments that have taken place in the banking sector. The GN consist of three separate sections which are as follows:

• Section A - Statutory Central Audit;
• Section B - Foreign Exchange Transactions and Integrated Treasury;
• Section C - Bank Branch Audit other than Foreign Exchange Transactions.

For Section A – Statutory Central Audit, click here;
For Section B – Foreign Exchange Transactions and Integrated Treasury, click here;
For Section C – Bank Branch Audit other than Foreign Exchange Transactions, click here.
 
GN on Reports in Company Prospectuses (Revised 2019) – 18 January 2019
 
The AASB of the ICAI has issued the ‘GN on Reports in Company Prospectuses (Revised 2019)’, thereby incorporating the various changes being made in Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) (Issue of Capital and Disclosure Requirements (ICDR)) Regulations, 2018.
 
For more information, click here

Regulatory News 

National Company Law Tribunal (Amendment) Rules, 2019 - 15 January 2019

 
The Central Government (CG) has amended the National Company Law Tribunal Rules (NCLT), 2016 with NCLT (Amendment) Rules, 2019, wherein the CG has substituted the words ‘the Central Government’ with the words ‘Regional Director’ in sub-rule (3) and (4) of Rule 71 ‘Application under proviso to clause (b) of sub – section (1) of Section 61’ of the aforesaid rules, which provides the procedures for the purpose of consolidation of division of share capital into shares of larger amount than its existing shares.  
             
These rules shall come into force on the date of their publication in Official Gazette i.e. 15 January 2019.
 
For more information, click here.
 

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Voluntary Liquidation Process) (Amendment) Regulations, 2019 - 15 January 2019

 
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has amended the IBBI (Voluntary Liquidation Process) Regulations, 2017 with the IBBI (Voluntary Liquidation Process) (Amendment) Regulations, 2019, wherein the following changes have been made:

• In explanation (c) to sub-regulation (1) of Regulation 6, ‘Eligibility for appointment as liquidator’, which provides the eligibility criteria for an insolvency professional to be appointed as a liquidator, the words ‘company secretaries’ have been substituted with the words ‘secretarial auditors’; and
•  In Form A, ‘Public Announcement’ which is given under the Schedule I, for the words ‘[insert the date falling thirty days after the liquidation commencement date]’, the words ‘[insert the date falling thirty days from the liquidation commencement date]’ have been substituted.

These regulations shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette i.e. 15 January 2019.
 
For more information, click here.

Guidelines for Public issue of units of REITs and InvITs - Amendments- 15 January 2019

The SEBI in order to further rationalise and ease the process of public issue of units of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (InvITs) has amended the guidelines w.r.t. the public issue of units of the aforesaid trusts.
 
For Guidelines w.r.t. public issue of units of REITs, click here;
For Guidelines w.r.t. public issue of units of InvITs, click here.

RBI announces the New External Commercial Borrowings (ECB) Framework – 16 January 2019

 
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), in order to improve the ease of doing business, has issued a new framework for ECB and rupee – denominated bonds.  Some of the major liberalisation/rationalisation in the new framework are as follows:

• Tracks I and II under the existing framework are merged as ‘Foreign Currency denominated ECB’ and Track III and Rupee Denominated Bonds framework are combined as ‘Rupee Denominated ECB’ to replace the current four-tiered structure;
•  The list of eligible borrowers has been expanded, thereby permitting all entities eligible to receive foreign direct investment to borrow under the ECB framework;
•  All eligible borrowers can now raise ECBs up to USD 750 million or equivalent per financial year under the automatic route replacing the existing sector wise limits.

For more information, click here.

 
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs has issued certain updates w.r.t. Goods and Services Tax (GST) whose links are as follows:
 
For more information w.r.t amendment in the meaning of Advance Authorisation, click here.