Over 2.25 lakh firms may be struck off in FY18- 19

New Delhi, June 8: The government on Friday said it has identified over 2.25 lakh companies and 7,191 LLPs which have not filed requisite financial statement for 2015- 16 and 2016- 17, and they may be struck off during the current financial year.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs ( MCA) has already struck off over 2.26 lakh companies for non- filing of financial statements or annual returns for a continuous period of 2 years or more.

Also, over 3.09 lakh directors were disqualified for not filing financial statements or annual returns for preceding 3 years ( 2013- 14, 2014- 15 and 2015- 16).

“For the second drive to be launched during 201819), 2,25,910 companies have been further identified for being struck off under section 248 of the Companies Act, 2013... for non- filing of financial statements for 2015- 16 and 2016- 17,” a finance ministry statement said.

Also, 7,191 Limited Liability Partnerships ( LLPs) have been identified for action under section 75 of the LLP Act, 2008 due to non- filing of financial statements for the stated years, it said.

These companies and LLPs will be given an opportunity of being heard by way of notices regarding their default and the proposed action.

“Appropriate action will be taken after considering their response,” the statement said.

A task force headed by finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia and MCA secretary Injeti Srinivas was set up in February 2017 to check the menace of shell companies through a coordinated, multi- agency approach.

The task force has compiled a database of shell companies and classified them into 3 categories — Confirmed list, Derived list and Suspect list.

The Confirmed List has a total of 16,537 confirmed shell companies on the basis of the information received from the various law enforcement agencies of the companies found to be involved in illegal activities.

The Derived List has 16,739 companies identified on the basis of 100 per cent common directorships with the confirmed shell companies.

The Suspect List has 80,670 shell companies and has been drawn up by SFIO using certain red flag indicators by the task force.

The task force has directed all member of law enforcement agencies to send to Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, the details of action taken against Chartered Accountants by them, the statement said.

A TASK FORCE headed by finance secretary Hasmukh Adhia and ministry of corporate affairs secretary Injeti Srinivas was set up in February 2017 to check the menace of shell companies through a coordinated, multi- agency approach.