Over 1.62 lakh companies deregistered till July 12: Govt

New Delhi: More than 1.62 lakh companies not carrying out business for long have been deregistered, with Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad together accounting for nearly half of such firms, the government told Parliament on Friday.

The response was to a query on whether there is an increase in the closure of bogus private limited companies especially those which had barely done business in the previous years but only taking loans and giving advances and creating money entries.

"The term bogus company is not defined under the Companies Act. However, Registrars of Companies (RoCs) have removed 1,62,618 companies from the register of the companies as of July 12, 2017 after following the due process under Section 248 of the Companies Act," Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Section 248 provides powers to the Registrar of Companies (RoC) to remove the name of a company from the register on various grounds, including that the entity was not carrying out any business for two preceding financial years.

Out of the 1,62,618 companies that have been struck off the register, a total of 76,451 firms were cancelled by RoCs of Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad put together.

Individually, RoC (Mumbai) has cancelled registration of 33,000 companies, RoC (Delhi) 22,863 and RoC (Hyderabad) 20,588 firms, Meghwal said.

Further, RoC (Chennai) removed the names of 12,133 firms, RoC (Bengaluru) 11,286 and RoC (Pune) 10,083, RoC (Ahmedabad) 9,625 and RoC (Kolkata) 8,078, he added.

Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said 37,000 shell companies indulging in tax evasion had been detected and more than three lakh firms were under the scanner for suspicious dealings, post demonetisation.

"The government has cancelled registration of over 1 lakh companies in a single stroke and more than 37,000 shell firms have been identified for strong action," he had said.

In a separate query, Meghwal said that the ministry has taken action against five unregistered companies -- Krishi Vipran Vikas Ltd, Bhagya Laxmi Financial Pvt Ltd, Natraj Finance, Webtern India Pvt Ltd, and Tanishka Infotech Pvt Ltd -- in the last three years.

In another reply, Meghwal said that the ministry has not received any communication for setting-up of central institution to check the fraudulent activities of chit funds/ multi-level marketing companies.