ECONOMY

Over 5.57 lakh companies deleted from records due to non-compliance

More than 5.57 lakh companies were struck off the records in the last five years due to non-compliance with various provisions of the companies law, according to the government. Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Rao Inderjit Singh on Tuesday said that 5,57,055 companies were struck off under Section 248 of the Companies Act, 2013, read with the Companies (Removal of Names of Companies from the Register of Companies) Rules, 2016, in the country in the last five years.

They were struck off due to non-compliance with provisions of the Act, he said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha.

He also added that the term ‘shell company’ was not defined under the Act. It normally referred to a company without active business operation or significant assets, which in some cases are used for illegal purpose, such as tax evasion, money laundering, obscuring ownership and benami properties, he added.

The minister also said that the special task force set up by the government to look into the issue of ‘shell companies’ had inter alia recommended the use of certain red-flag indicators as alerts for identification of shell companies.

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