Foreword

India is the world’s sixth largest economy by nominal GDP and the third largest by Purchasing Power Parity (PPP). During FYs 2015 to 2017, India's economy became the world's fastest-growing major economy, surpassing China when India achieved 6-7% average GDP growth annually. Despite previous reforms, economic growth is still significantly slowed by bureaucracy, lack of world class infrastructure, and inflexible labour laws (especially the inability to lay off workers in a business slowdown).

India is now ranked 100 out of 190 countries in the World Bank's 2018 ease of doing business index, up 30 points from the last year's 130. This is the first time in history where India got into the top 100 ranks. The strong efforts taken by the Government in various sectors has resulted in this boost. Despite all efforts to make doing business easy, it is still difficult to start a new business and securing permissions a continuing concern for new investors

Reforms are sweeping across sectors, and the same is the case with the various laws and regulations which one encounters on a regular basis. While successive Governments could remove just 1,301 obsolete laws which came in the way of smooth administration and economic growth in the past 65 years, the present Central Government has managed to weed out as many as 1,200 Acts in just three years. As many as 1,824 more obsolete Central Acts have been identified to be repealed. In contrast, last year, we witnessed the plethora of new laws and additional compliances; Ind-AS, IFCR, POEM, GAAR, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, RERA and GST. All these may be justified and has kept our members busy, but they have added to the woes of the business community. The time, effort and cost of compliances have gone up significantly. The BCAS Referencer has been a reference book for various important Acts over the years for many professionals since it makes available knowledge at one place.

This is the 56th continuous year of BCAS publication and 21st year of theme-based publication of the Referencer. This year the Editorial team has aptly focused on the ‘Collective Enterprise – India’s 
Co-operatives.’ Not many will know that the history of co-operatives in India goes back to the enactment of Co-operative Credit Societies Act, 1904. However, India had an informal co-operative system depending on the needs of the people long before the law was set.

BCAS Referencer 2018-19 has been printed in a new avatar to make it ‘easy to carry’ and ‘easy to use’. We are sure that, as always, this year’s Referencer will provide enough value to the user and also educate them on the various successful co-operatives of India.

The already easy-to-use Referencer has been made even more simpler. The text has been converted into tables and charts wherever possible. Language has been made simpler. We hope you enjoy using this year's Referencer.

All this has been made possible due to the efforts of our dedicated and committed team. We laud the efforts of all the compilers who bring their expertise to the table and keep this Referencer updated. We thank our Editorial team of CA Rajeev Shah, CA Yatin Desai, CA Sangeeta Pandit and CA Kinjal Bhuta for their yeomen service. The effort put in by meticulously editing such a large publication in such a short period and ensuring the highest quality is commendable. Our printer Finesse Graphics continues to excel in designing and printing year after year. The BCAS staff too has put in a lot of effort in providing logistics and administrative support to this project.

Last, but not the least, a very big thank you for the vision, guidance, leadership to the team and putting in painstaking effort year after year, by our affable and visionary Past Presidents CA. Pranay Marfatia and CA Naushad Panjwani.