The government is likely to add “admission benches” in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in a bid to expedite insolvency resolution process, which is currently facing delays with respect to the mandated time-line under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC). As per a government source, “the government will amend the law and add admission benches in the NCLT, so that the process of either accepting or rejecting the application for the initiation of the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) against the debtor is completed within 14-days.”

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) on November 1 said 5.90 lakh financial statements and 2.55 lakh annual returns have been filed till October 31 in the current financial year. Under the companies law, companies have to submit their annual filings to the MCA. "Stakeholders are informed that during FY 2023-24, as on 31.10.2023, 5.90 Lakh Financial Statements and 2.55 Lakh Annual Returns have been filed against 3.41 Lakh Financial Statements and 1.73 Lakh Annual Returns filed during the corresponding period of last financial year," MCA said in a post on social media platform X. Generally, companies are required to hold their annual general meetings within six months of the conclusion of a financial year.

Ministries of Finance and Corporate Affairs should strive for simplification of processes with a focus on whole-of-the country approach to maximize delivery and engagement, Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday. Addressing the Chintan Shivir of the Finance Ministry and MCA, Sitharaman also emphasized the need to continuously reorient policy in the cultural context and to instill a sense of ownership in decision-making, to enhance effectiveness with efficiency.

Nearly 70% of the cases where prosecution is being withdrawn by the ministry of corporate affairs relate to companies registered in Kolkata, the government informed Lok Sabha on Monday. Data shared by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman showed that in the latest round where 7,338 cases of prosecution are being withdrawn, 5,111 are related to the Registrar of Companies Kolkata, with Patna being a distant second.

The government has started the process for deactivating multiple login IDs that are in the name of a single company secretary, chartered accountant or cost accountant on the MCA21 portal, which is the platform for submitting statutory filings under the companies and LLP laws. In this regard, the corporate affairs ministry has issued a circular and professionals, who are having multiple IDs, need to get approval from their respective apex institutes for deactivating the IDs so that there is only one ID for one user, according to officials. Professionals refer to company secretaries, chartered accountants and cost accountants. The move comes as Version 3 (V3) of the portal is being operationalised. Under V3, a professional can have only one login ID whereas in V2, multiple IDs were allowed. For instance, a company secretary having multiple log IDs on the MCA21 portal need to get approval from the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) for deactivating the multiple IDs.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) on Friday said it has decided to withdraw another 7,338 prosecutions, which have remained pending before various courts. This would be a significant decrease of 21.86% in the pending prosecutions being pursued by the government. The government’s “Action Plan for Special Arrears Clearance Drives” for reducing the number of pending litigations had previously resulted in the withdrawal of 14,247 prosecutions during the Special Drive-I in the year 2017.

MCA21, the portal of India's Corporate Affairs ministry, has lately been in the news for the wrong reasons. Glitches in the functioning of the site have impacted due diligence and market analytics work of companies and businesses, a ToI report highlighted on June 22. As per various reports, professionals have been encountering issues with site for a year now. It all started when MCA and LTIMindtree (which maintains the portal) shifted to a new version of the portal, called Version 3 (or V3). In the beginning, the new version was operational for limited liability partnership companies. In 2023, it was opened up for all kinds of businesses. The issues with the site are not limited to glitches one experiences while uploading filings. Accessing documents is also becoming hard, the report said citing users of the portal. Some users are unable to access updated documents on the portal. "We are not able to get filings after November 2022. Since we are into market intelligence, it affects our ability to analyse companies. If the company we are analysing is our client, we can ask them for updated data. But if they are not, it becomes a problem," ToI reported quoting Shravani Joshi, a company law expert at Bengaluru-based equity management company RuleZero. The resultant lack of data is impacting due diligence and audit work for many. Audit work that needs to be done during fundraisng or other transactions is "not happening as efficiently as it ought to be," company secretary Srivani Tyarla told ToI.

The ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) is planning to harden a crackdown on non-functional (shell) companies, having already struck off hundreds of thousands of such firms that are often used to funnel black money, people aware of the details said. The physical verification of “non-functional or non-compliant firms” by the Registrar of Companies (RoC) will pick up further. “The drive under the Section 12 of the Companies Act, is only going to intensify now,” the person told ET.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) secretary Manoj Govil on Sunday took to Twitter and said that the ministry will hold consultations with stakeholders on issues related to MCA21 portal in Chennai and Hyderabad next week. The move by the ministry comes amid stakeholders facing various issues with respect to the portal, which is the key platform for submitting statutory filings under the companies law. In a series of tweets on Sunday, the ministry said the secretary will hold consultations with stakeholders in Chennai on June 20 and in Hyderabad on June 21. "Secretary @MCA21India will hold stakeholders' consultations, along with the team of @LTIMindtreeOFCL @theicai and @icsi_cs at Chennai on 20th June and at Hyderabad on 21st June on the issues relating to the MCA-21 Version-3 Portal. @nsitharamanoffc," it said in a tweet.

Company secretary Gaurav Pingle’s computer screen looked like a screensaver with an astronaut in space. But a closer look showed it was an error message from MCA21, the corporate affairs ministry’s website, when he tried to upload some forms. Now, two days after raising a complaint, he still hasn’t found a resolution. Company law professionals like Pingle continue to face issues with the MCA site, which is now managed by IT services company LTIMindtree. TOI had highlighted the problems in March. But even now, three months later, and despite assurances from Nirmala Sitharaman, the finance and corporate affairs minister, the site has not stabilised. Pingle says finance professionals like him are trying such techniques as changing the password and clearing the cache to get the site to work properly. In some cases it works, in others it doesn’t. Earlier, company and limited liability partnership (LLP) incorporation took 10 to 15 days. Now, users say, it takes more than a month.

In a move aimed at improving ease of doing business, the government has streamlined and expedited the process of corporate mergers and amalgamations. The ministry of corporate affairs has notified changes to the Companies (Compromises, Arrangements and Amalgamations) Amendment Rules, 2023. The norms, which will be effective from June 15, aim to address the issue of bureaucratic delays in corporate restructuring by putting in place specific timelines. In cases of amalgamation or merger where no objection or suggestions are received from the Registrar of Companies and the official liquidator within 30 days of the receipt of a copy of the scheme, the Centre can issue a confirmation order within 15 days provided that the scheme is in the public interest or in the interest of creditors.

The ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) has set up the Centre for Processing Accelerated Corporate Exit (C-PACE) that is expected to provide timely and process-bound striking-off of companies from the MCA register. “The establishment of the C-PACE will help to reduce the stress on the registry along with keeping the registry clean besides availability of more meaningful data to the stakeholders,” said an official statement on Saturday, adding that it will also benefit the stakeholders by providing a hassle-free filing, timely and process-bound removal of their company’s names from the register.

Firms applying for removal of their names from the Register of Companies will have to file financial statements and annual returns in order to cease business operations. To this effect, the ministry of corporate affairs has introduced fresh conditions for companies that wish to de-register with the RoC. According to the changes, a firm cannot file for removal of names unless it has filed overdue financial statements and overdue annual returns up to the end of the financial year in which it ceased to carry its business operations. Further, in case a company intends to file the application after the action has been initiated by the Registrar, it will have to file all pending financial statements and all pending annual returns prior to this.