More than 1.62 lakh companies' registrations have been cancelled in the last two financial years. This was part of government's action on shell companies. "In recent times the government has taken several measures to identify shell companies, investigate their operations and take further actions," said minister of state for finance, Santosh Gangwar, in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.
Under Companies Act 2013, notices have been issued to all those companies which were prima facie not carrying on any business or operation for a period of two immediately preceding financial years and had failed to file their financial statements for the said period.
Apart from de-registering them, some action has also been taken by the income tax department.
"From 2013-14 to 2015-16, investigations conducted by the I-T department led to detection of more than 1,155 shell companies which were used as conduits by over 22,000 beneficiaries," said the minister.
The amount involved in non-genuine transactions of such beneficiaries was more than Rs 13,300 crore. Further, prosecution complaints have been filed against 47 persons found involved in wrongdoings through shell companies.
Addressing chartered accountants after the GST roll out, prime minister had said that more than 3 lakh companies were under suspicion. The MCA had sent notices to at least another two lakh companies that had not filed returns.
The government plans to launch a multi-pronged offensive against one lakh companies that have been deregistered, including action against them for violating taxation and money-laundering laws as well as choking their access to banking.
