India will further liberalise norms to facilitate mergers and acquisitions that have been one of the biggest contributors to the country's industrial expansion, an official said Thursday.
"Corporates will not have multiplicity of reporting formats and that is one commitment we give to the Indian industry," D.K. Mittal, secretary in the corporate affairs ministry, said at a summit organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here.
He said his ministry, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) - the three main regulators of the mergers and acquisition activities - have been striving hard to further liberalise the norms.
"We have been careful not to put any restriction on acquisition by Indian corporates outside the country," Mittal said.
SEBI and the Competition Commission of India have norms to regulate takeover of Indian companies from foreign companies where capital is much cheaper.
"The idea is that regulation should not be restrictive or destructive and that regulatory framework should have a soft landing which we have been able to achieve," Mittal added.
Indian corporate sector witnessed mergers and acquisitions deals worth nearly $67 billion in 2010.
"In an inter-connected world, competition is all pervasive and businesses will have to think big, act fast and transcend geographic boundaries by mergers and acquisitions to stay globally competitive," Adi Godrej, chairman of Godrej Group, said while addressing the conference.