Lobbying law to focus on increasing disclosures: Sources

After the recent uproar in Parliament over allegations of spending on lobbying by Walmart to influence Indian officials, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs is examining the need for lobbying laws in India. Malvika Jain of CNBC-TV18 gives the details.

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Senior officials today emphasised that there is a difference between bribery and lobbying. If at all legislation is formulated in India with respect to lobbying, it is going to emphasise more on disclosures and less on penalties. However, this is still far away. Right now, the ministry is only examining the need for having lobbying legislations in India. We know that there is Bharti Wal-Mart probe committee which has been set up by the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry.

In this probe, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs is going to act as a coordinating ministry and with the support of the Parliamentary Affairs Ministry and Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion(DIPP), they are going to analyse and examine the need for lobbying legislations in India. They will examine if at all these legislations have to come into place and in what form should these be notified. So, it is a good start here in view of recent allegations. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has already started examining the issue.