'Company registration accelerated'

The day-to-day activities of the Department of the Registrar of Companies have been modernised. If a foreign investor wants to register his company, facilities have been provided to do this within two days, Industry and Commerce Minister Rishard Bathiudeen recently told Parliament during the debate on Revision of Fee Regulations under the Companies Act and the Societies Ordinance under Extraordinary Gazette Notices No. 1841/8 (dated December 18, 2013) and No.1847/02 (dated January 27, 2014).

The Amendments under Societies Ordinance No.16 of 1891 proposed by Minister Bathiudeen were passed by the House after debate. The Department of the Registrar of Companies now issues the Certificate of Registration to a limited liability company in less than two working days. Name approvals are performed within a day.

The fast services are available provided the applicant's documents are in order.

"Companies registered under the Act need to pay service charges.

"This amendment will help to improve the income of the Department of the Registrar of Companies. From 2009 to 2013 over 1,000 associations have been registered with the department, increasing the total number of registrations upto about 12,000," the Minister said. The charges have been revised with the consent of the Treasury. "Our data storage system has also been computerised and upgraded.

"The number of Registered Societies is 12,086," he said.