Fast track merger

A fast track merger is a merger or amalgamation under section 233 of the Companies Act, 2013 that is approved by the members, the creditors, the Registrar, the Official Liquidator and the Central Government without the company petitioning the tribunal under sections 230 to 232. On 4 September 2025 the Companies (Compromises, Arrangements and Amalgamations) Amendment Rules 2025 widened the classes that may use it: unlisted companies other than section 8 companies, within the prescribed borrowing ceiling and with no default certified by the auditor; a holding company and its subsidiary; and two subsidiaries of one holding company, in each case where the transferor is not listed.

The thresholds defeat more schemes than objections do: approval by ninety per cent of the total number of shares and by nine-tenths in value of the creditors. The Registrar and the Official Liquidator have thirty days to object, the Central Government has sixty days to move the tribunal, and the tribunal may send the scheme into the full section 232 process. A company that crosses the borrowing ceiling by drawing down a facility loses the route. The Corporate Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2026 would change the members' threshold, but as at 21 September 2026 it is not law.