SHOMA PATNAIK | NT
PANAJI: Nearly 30 per cent of Goan companies are defunct and exist only on paper. They face the prospect of being struck off or ‘deregistered’ for not filing returns for two financial years, according to registrar of companies.
Registrar of companies (RoC) V P Katkar on Tuesday said that 2,360 companies out of 8,100 companies in the state jurisdiction have been identified as “non-operational” for failure to file income tax returns and failure to finalise accounts for 2013-14 and 2014-15.
Of the 2,360 defunct companies, 403 companies have charges against them – they have taken loans from banks and have borrowings on their books.
“Notices for closure have been served on 1,957 companies,” said Katkar, speaking to this daily. He said that company names have been put up on the website of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. “The window period for revival is one month and failing it, the companies will be deregistered,” he said.
The exercise is to ensure that defunct companies are unable to carry out transactions and “to clean up the register.” It is a part of all-India exercise to have only “live companies on the register” and give an accurate picture of the economic scenario. “Companies must transact business and not be only in name,” pointed out Katkar. He said that some of the Goan companies that are defunct also have court cases against them for non-compliance.
Recently, as part of the all-India crackdown on shell companies, the central registrar of companies, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, identified and sent notices of closure to four lakh companies out of 11 lakh registered companies. The names of these companies and information on their directors are being shared with Reserve Bank of India, other banks and the income tax department to prevent them from being used as depository for black money after demonetisation.
Companies that did not file returns for two financial years have mostly not filed returns for 2015-16 also but the window for filing has not shut down for 2015-16.
Goa’s defunct companies are considered as “on the higher side” compared to the size of the state, according to an informed source. “Individuals float companies in enthusiasm but drop the idea of making them work. Sometimes policy changes are announced by the government and it makes businesses unattractive and the company stops functioning,” explained the source.
Companies are also given the option of going “dormant” if they do not want to do business for some years. However, defunct companies are distinct from dormant companies.