Government identified 2,38,223 companies as shell companies between 2018-2021

Ministry of Corporate Affairs Press Release dated 27 July 2021

There is no definition of the term “Shell Company” in the Companies Act and it normally refers 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, benami properties etc. This was stated by Union Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Shri Rao Inderjit Singh in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha today.

The Minister further stated that the Special Task Force set up by the Government to look into the issue of “Shell Companies” has inter-alia recommended the use of certain red flag indicators as alerts for identification of Shell Companies.

The Government has undertaken a Special Drive for identification and striking off Shell Companies during the last three years, the Minister stated.

The Minister tabled a list of the total number of companies struck off u/s 248 State/ Union Territory-wise as under:

Name of the State/ UT

No. of Struck off Companies

2018 to June 2021

RoC-Ahmedabad

9243

RoC-Andaman

41

RoC-Bangalore

11185

RoC-Chandigarh

4908

RoC-Chennai

11217

RoC-Chhattisgarh

947

RoC-Coimbatore

2992

RoC-Cuttack

3731

RoC-Delhi

45595

RoC-Ernakulam

9189

RoC-Goa

597

RoC-Gwalior

4920

RoC-HimachalPradesh

858

RoC-Hyderabad

20488

RoC-Jaipur

9222

RoC-Jammu

393

RoC-Jharkhand

1848

RoC-Kanpur

15803

RoC-Kolkata

15022

RoC-Mumbai

52869

RoC-Patna

4683

RoC-Pondicherry

191

RoC-Pune

5552

RoC-Shillong

1256

RoC-Uttarakhand

555

RoC-Vijayawada

4918

Total

238223