Over 100,000 firms deregistered under Section 248 this fiscal: Govt

Section 248 pertains to removal of the name of a company that has not been carrying out business activities for a long time

Names of more than 100,000 companies have been struck off the official records in the current fiscal for not carrying business activities for a long time, the government said Friday.

As part of clamping down on illicit fund flows, the Corporate Affairs Ministry has been taking action against entities that are suspected to be shell companies.

Under the Companies Act, 2013, a company can be deregistered if it has not been carrying out any business for two continuous years and has also not applied for obtaining dormant status.

Minister of State for Corporate Affairs P P Chaudhary informed the Lok Sabha that 226,000 companies were struck off from the Register of Companies as on December 31, 2017.

"During financial year 2018-19, a total of 2,25,910 companies have been identified for action under Section 248 of the Act and after following due process of law, names of 1,00,150 companies have been struck off from the Register of Companies. This is a continuous process," he said in a written reply.

Section 248 pertains to removal of name of a company that has not been carrying out business activities for a long time.

In a separate written reply, the minister said that the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) does not maintain data related to non-performing assets.

"However, as per the information given by Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI), orders of resolution against 65 corporate debtors have been issued by the NCLT as on October 31, 2018 with a realisable amount of Rs 606.36 billion by the creditors," he noted.

According to him, a total of 40,712 cases have been registered with the NCLT and 26,290 cases have been disposed by the tribunal till November 30, 2018.