On recent amendments to the Companies Act, 2013 ('Companies Act'), accessible on our website here. As mentioned in that Client Alert, there were certain amendments to the Companies Act, pursuant to Companies (Amendment) Act, 2019, notification of which was pending. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has now, by way of its notification dated August 14, 2019, notified that these balance provisions (other than those relating to Corporate Social Responsibility ('CSR')) will be effective from August 15, 2019.
Since the CSR related amendments have not been made effective, for now CSR will continue to be voluntary, and not spending the prescribed amount on CSR would not be treated as a criminal offence.
Date: August 21, 2019
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