Business

Companies Bill takes 57 years but wait not over yet

The Rajya Sabha passed the Companies Bill, 2012, on Thursday by a voice vote, paving the way for replacing the Companies Act, 1956, with a new legislation more in sync with the requirements of the corporate world in a globalised environment. The new law will be marked by greater focus on shareholder democracy, need for more corporate disclosures and less intrusive regulations. Several provisions have been introduced to ease corporate decision-making and improve governance.
It is now mandatory for certain classes of companies to spend at least 2% of their average profits in the last three years on corporate social responsibility activities. It also introduces the concept of class action suits.

BlackBerry open to going private

 BlackBerry Ltd is warming up to the possibility of going private, as the smartphone maker battles to revive its fortunes, several sources familiar with the situation said.

Chief executive Thorsten Heins and the company's board is increasingly coming around to the idea that taking BlackBerry private would give them breathing room to fix its problems out of the public eye, the sources said.The company has also been looking at options such as licensing its BlackBerry 10 software and other partnerships.