Over 19 lakh director identification numbers deactivated for want of KYC info: Govt

The Corporate Affairs Ministry has deactivated more than 19 lakh director identification numbers (DIN) as the individuals concerned failed to file KYC details under the companies law.

Individuals are required to have a DIN issued by the ministry in order to serve as a board member of a company.

"As on November 28, 2019, 19,40,313 DINs have been de-activated due to non-filing of Know Your Client (KYC)," Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Anurag Singh Thakur told the Rajya Sabha.

To a query on whether 21 lakh company directors have failed to register for eligibility, the minister replied in the affirmative.

In the last two financial years, over 4.24 lakh directors were disqualified by the ministry.

During the same period, Registrars of Companies (RoCs) struck-off names of more than 3.38 lakh companies for failing to file annual returns.

"The terms of 'Ghost Directors' and 'Shell Companies' are not defined in the Companies Act, 2013," Thakur noted.

In a separate written reply, the minister said sanction for prosecution has been accorded in 366 cases for violation of CSR requirements.

Under the Act, certain class of profitable companies are required to shell out at least 2 per cent of their three-year annual average net profit towards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities in a particular fiscal.

"All CSR related offences are compoundable. So far, 118 applications for compounding have been made and 37 cases have been compounded," the minister said.

Generally, compoundable offences are those which can be settled by paying certain amount of money.