The Selfie Notice

Le MCA a récemment publié une notification^[1] G.S.R. 144(E)^[2] qui ajoute certaines règles aux règles existantes notifiées en 2014.. Le point clé de cette notification est l'identification et la vérification de l'entreprise active (ACTIVE).. Il s'agit d'un formulaire^[3] qui doit être rempli par toutes les sociétés constituées avant 2018.. Ce formulaire comprend le lieu (lat-long), les coordonnées des principaux responsables (directeurs/secrétaire général/chef d'entreprise), de l'expert-comptable et des photos à l'extérieur et à l'intérieur du bureau.

Rationale:

• This applies to every company: from Hindustan Unilever to Zomato to GAIL
• It is possible that these requirements are to check shell companies. Shell companies claim to have employees, an office and operations whereas they only exist on paper and are a conduit for illegitimate transactions
• This could help in identifying dormant companies. It is common to find founders abandoning their companies and not going through with striking off and other procedures to wind up a company. With this move, it would become easier to identify those companies
• As India moves to a faster incorporation regime, checks and balances would have to be introduced in the system after the process, at a later date. This is in line with international best practices where companies are considered incorporated at the time of filing and the due diligence happens later
• This would bring in awareness among founders as to compliances

On a lighter note, I have seen multiple explanations for this notification. The funniest one was:

“Being required to publish GST number at the entrance of the company and clicking pictures is like your bae asking you to update your fb status to In a Relationship”

^[1] http://www.mca.gov.in/Ministry/pdf/CompaniesIncorporationAmendmentRules_21022019.pdf

^[2] Appelées règles de modification des sociétés (constitution), 2019.

^[3] Formulaire 22A