Over 18 lakh registered cos, only 62 pc active at Oct end: Minister

The country has more than 18 lakh registered companies but only 62 per cent of them were actively functioning at the end of October this year, Parliament was informed Friday.

There were a little over 18.10 lakh registered companies at the end of October, while only 11.16 lakh companies were active during the period, Minister of State for Corporate Affairs P P Chaudhary said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

Entities are required to get registered under the Companies Act, which is implemented by the ministry, to function as companies.

In terms of states, Maharashtra had the highest number of registered companies (3.59 lakh), followed by Delhi (3.26 lakh) and West Bengal (1.98 lakh) in the second and third position respectively.

Besides, Chaudhary said that the ministry has taken a number of measures to boost the growth of the corporate sector in the country.

This includes introduction of integrated simplified form for incorporating companies electronically; allotment of director identification number as well as permanent account number (PAN) for a company.