MCA extends due date of DIR-3KYC / E-KYC of Directors

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MCA extends due date of DIR -3KYC / E-KYC of Directors

In order to update the Directors database of The Ministry of Corporate Affairs(MCA), MCA has requested all Directors holding a DIN to complete DIN KYC before 15th September 2018.

To complete DIN KYC, the Director would be required to file a form known as DIR-3 KYC or DIN e-KYC.

The notification issued by Ministry of Corporate Affairs has been reproduced below:

 

 

Government of India 
MINISTRY OF CORPORATE AFFAIRS

Notification

New Delhi, dated 21st August 2018

G.S.R. …… (E).-In exercise of the powers conferred by sections 396,398,399, 403 and 404 read with sub-sections (1) and (2) of section ‘1-69 of the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013), the Central Government hereby makes the following rules further to amend the Companies (Registration Offices and Fees) Rules, 2014, namely:-

  1. (1) These rules may be called the Companies (Registration Offices and Fees) Fourth Amendment Rules, 2018.
    (2) They shall come into force from the date of their publication in the Official Gazette.
  2. In the Companies (Registration Offices and Fees) Rules, 2014, in the Annexure, under the head VII, for note below Fee for filing e-form DIR-3 KYC, the following note shall be substituted, namely:-

“for the current financial (2018-2019), no fee shall be chargeable till
the 15th September 2018 and fee of Rs.5000 shall be payable on or after the 16th September 2018”.

[F. No. 01/16/2013 CL-V (Pt-I)]

 

Sd/-

K.V.R MURTY, JOINT SECRETARY

Purpose of E-form DIR-3 KYC

The main purpose of e-form DIR-3 KYC is to collect the latest information about the directors of all companies. The information to be provided while completing eKYC procedures include Aadhar, PAN, Passport number, address, phone and email. The information submitted must be authenticated by completing one-time-password (OTP) verification and by signing with Digital Signature of Director and a practising Chartered Accountant.

Applicability

All directors having a DIN as on 31st March of 2018 must file e-form DIR-3 KYC on or before 15th September of 2018. For all Directors who obtained DIN after 31st March, 2018, DIR e-KYC must be filed next year.

Documents Required

The following are the documents required to file E-form DIR-3 KYC:

  • PAN Card for identity proof
  • Aadhar Card for address proof
  • Recent passport size photographs
  • Personal Mobile Number and E-mail ID of director for OTP Verification
  • Digital Signature Certificate of the director (DSC) that must be registered on MCA Portal
  • Passport (if the person holds a foreign citizenship)

Certifying Authority

The E-form DIR-3 KYC has to be duly certified by the Practicing Chartered Accountant (PCA), Practicing Company Secretary (PCS) or Practicing Cost Accountant.

Penalties

If the DIN holders do not file DIR-3, the MCA will mark them as deactivated. If the DIN holder files e-form DIR-3 KYC after 31st August 2018, a fee of Rs. 5,000 will be charged.

Time Limit

All directors to whom DIN has been allocated as of March 2018, the e-form DIR-3 KYC has to be filed by September 15, 2018. Originally, the MCA had provided a due date of 31st August which was subsequently changed to 15th September.

 

SEBI calls for stringent laws against erring auditors, valuers

by | posted in: Accounting Standards, Audit, Due Diligence, Company Incorporations, e-filing of MCA Returns, Corporate & Business Advisory Services, Corporate Updates, Economy, Business Updates, Corporate Affairs | 0
SEBI has proposed giving the board of directors of the company the authority to take appropriate action after conducting an investigation against the individual or firm that violates any regulations or submits a false certificate or report.

India’s capital market regulator has proposed amendments to tighten laws governing auditors and other third-party individuals hired by listed companies for auditing financial results, among other things.

The Kotak Committee, formed to come up with proposals for improving corporate governance, last year recommended that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) should have clear powers to act against auditors and other third-party individuals or firms with statutory duties under the securities law.

Auditing lapses have caused several frauds to go unnoticed for years and the capital market regulator has had no direct control on the auditing firms.

SEBI has proposed giving the board of directors of the company the authority to take appropriate action after conducting an investigation against the individual or firm that violates any regulations or submits a false certificate or report.

The proposed changes come months after Punjab National Bank, India’s second largest state-run lender, stunned markets after uncovering a $2 billion loan fraud that had gone undetected for years.

Merchant bankers, credit rating agencies, custodians, among others, are registered and regulated by SEBI but chartered accountants, company secretaries, valuers and monitoring agencies do not come under any direct regulators.

The amendments would mean auditors must ensure certificates or reports issued by them are true in all material respects and they must exercise all due care, skill and diligence with respect to all processes involved in issuance of the report or certificate.

The auditors would be responsible to report in writing to the audit committee of the listed company or the compliance officer on any violation of the securities law they noticed.

In January, SEBI barred Price Waterhouse from auditing listed companies in India for two years after an investigation into a nearly decade-old accounting fraud case in a software services company that became India’s biggest corporate scandal.

SEBI has sought feedback and comments on the draft regulations over the next 30 days.

 

Link: Business Today

Updating the KYC of all directors by MCA

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As part of updating its registry, MCA would be conducting KYC of all Directors of all companies annually through a new eform viz. DIR-3 KYC to be notified and deployed shortly.

Accordingly, every Director who has been allotted DIN on or before 31st March, 2018 and whose DIN is in ‘Approved’ status, would be mandatorily required to file form DIR-3 KYC on or before 31st August,2018.

While filing the form,the Unique Personal Mobile Number and Personal Email ID would have to be mandatorily indicated and would be duly verified by One Time Password(OTP).

The form should be filed by every Director using his own DSC and should be duly certified by a practicing professional (CA/CS/CMA).

Filing of DIR-3 KYC would be mandatory for Disqualified Directors also.

After expiry of the due date by which the KYC form is to be filed,the MCA21 system will mark all approved DINs (allotted on or before 31st March 2018) against which DIR-3 KYC form has not been filed as ‘Deactivated’ with reason as ‘Non-filing of DIR-3 KYC’.

After the due date filing of DIR-3 KYC in respect of such deactivated DINs shall be allowed upon payment of a specified fee only, without prejudice to any other action that may be taken.

SEBI tweaks rules for IPOs, buybacks and takeovers

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The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Thursday eased several rules relating to Initial Public Offers (IPO), rights issues, buybacks and takeovers. The regulator’s board approved these changes as also those relating tenures of managing directors of market intermediaries. The capital markets watchdog reduced the time for announcing the price band of initial […]
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on Thursday eased several rules relating to Initial Public Offers (IPO), rights issues, buybacks and takeovers.

The regulator’s board approved these changes as also those relating tenures of managing directors of market intermediaries. The capital markets watchdog reduced the time for announcing the price band of initial public offers (IPO) from five working days before the opening of the issue to two working days. This will give companies more time to fix the price band.

 

Companies now need to provide investors with financial disclosures — for public issues and rights issues — for only three years. Currently, information is provided in the offer documents for five years. Also, companies need to provide only consolidated audited financial disclosures in the IPO offer document; audited standalone financials of the issuer and subsidiaries must be disclosed on the company website.

 

Following a board meeting on Thursday, the capital markets regulator tweaked the buyback norms. The buyback period has been defined as the time between the board resolution or the date of declaration of results for a special resolution authorizing the buyback of shares and the day on which the shares are paid.

Also, Sebi has amended the takeover rules. It has given companies additional time to revise the open offer price upwards till one working day before the start the tendering period.

 

The Sebi board also approved some recommendations of R Gandhi committee on regulations relating to market infrastructure institutions (MIIs). For rights issues the threshold for submission of the draft letter of offer to Sebi has been increased to Rs.10 crore as against the earlier prescribed Rs 50 lakh. The regular also tweaked the rules relating to the underwriting of all non-SME public issues. If 90% of the fresh issue of share is subscribed, the underwriting will be restricted to that portion only. Accordingly, the requirement to underwrite 100% of the issue without regard to the minimum subscription requirements has been deleted.

 

Sebi also reduced minimum anchor investor size to Rs 2 crore from the existing Rs 10 crore, for SME issuances. This will allow companies to attract more anchor investors for an issue.

 

The board has permitted eligible domestic and foreign entities to hold up to 15% shareholding in case of Depository and Clearing Corporation. Moreover, multilateral and bilateral financial institutions, as notified by the government, have also been recommended to hold up to 15% in an MII. Moreover, Sebi has decided to limit the tenure of managing directors of an MII for a for a maximum of two terms of up to 5 years each or up to 65 years of age, whichever is earlier. The requirement would also apply to incumbent MDs of MIIs.

 

The regulator is also looking into the issues regarding IPO ICICI Securities in ICIC AMC bought the large stake.The regulator had sought details of a significant investment made by ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund in the IPO of ICICI Securities. “Yes we are looking into that, and we have sought some information from them, and we are yet to get their replies,” Tyagi said.

 

Source: Financial Express

Companies Act Compliance: Consequences of not filing Annual Return

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Last week, the Parliament cleared a bill to further amend the Companies Act.

The financial statements and annual returns of all company must be filed on time with the ROC / MCA each year. As per Companies Act, 2013, non-filing of annual return is an offence, consequences of which affect the directors, as well as the company.

Hence, it is a must for every company to file with the MCA:

1. The annual return within 60 days of the Annual General Meeting and

2. The Financial Statement, within 30 days of the Annual General Meeting.

The various consequences and the penalties for not filing annual return of a company (Forms MGT-7 & AOC-4) are highlighted here.

A. Consequences – for Directors

The Directors of a company are responsible for ensuring the compliance of the company with all applicable rules and regulations. When a company defaults on compliance or dues payable, the Directors are held responsible for the default. The following are penal consequences for a Director of a company for default of non-filing of the Annual Return.

Director Disqualification

In case a company has not been filed its Annual Return for three continuous financial years, then every person who has been a director or is currently the director of the specific company could be disqualified under the Companies Act, 2013. If a Director is disqualified, his/her DIN would become inactive and the person would not be eligible to be appointed as a Director of any company for a period of five years from the date of disqualification. Further, disqualified Directors would not also be allowed to incorporate another company for a period of five years.

Fine & Imprisonment

A director of the company can be punished if the company has not been filed even after 270 days from the date when the company should have originally filed with additional penalty. Any Director who has defaulted in the filing of annual return of a company can also be penalized with an imprisonment of a term extended up to six months or with a fine of an amount not lesser than fifty thousand rupees and it might extend up to five lakh rupees, or with both imprisonment and fine. However, this provision provided under the Companies Act, 2013 is rarely used.

In addition, if any information filed by a Director or any other person in the annual return is false by any nature or if he/she failed to mention any fact or material that is true can be punished with imprisonment for a term  which is not lesser than six months and which could extend up to 10 years. Further, he/she can also be liable for payment of a fine which is not lesser than the amount subject to the fraud involved and it may extend to an amount three times of the sum concerned with the fraud.

B. Consequences of Default – For Company

The following are some of the penal consequences for a company that has not filed its annual return:

Penalty

Normally, the Government fee for filing or registering any document under the Companies Act required or authorized to be filed with the Registrar is Rs.200. A private limited company would be required to file form MGT-7 and form AOC-4 each year and the government fee applicable if filed on time would be Rs.400. In case of delay in filing of annual return, the penalty as mentioned would be applicable:

The penalty for not filing a company’s annual return (Form MGT-7 and Form AOC-4) is increased to Rs.100 per day w.e.f.July 1, 2018.

Strike-Off

In case the company has not filed its Annual Return for the last two financial years continuously, then such companies would be termed as an “inactive company”. On such a classification, the bank account of the company could be frozen. Further, the Registrar could also issue a notice to the Company and initiate strike-off of the company from the MCA records.

 

In case you need any assistance to file annual return for your company, you can contact us at Director@Sunkrish.com

SEBI panel proposes stricter norms for RTAs

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SEBI proposed that the board of RTA should have public interest directors when it becomes a QRTA.

A Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) panel on Friday proposed tighter ownership and governance norms for registrar and transfer agents (RTAs).

According to a discussion paper released by Sebi, the panel, headed by former Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor R. Gandhi, felt that since RTAs manage sensitive investor-related data, there need to be stricter governance rules for them.

RTAs maintain detailed records of all investor transactions in mutual funds and shares. They also help investors complete their transactions and receive a record of their account statements.

This is the second discussion paper by the panel after some market participants suggested it should add credit rating agencies (CRAs), RTAs and debenture trustees (DTs) in the list of market infrastructure institutions (MIIs) and frame stricter norms for them, similar to those followed by MIIs such as exchanges, depositories and clearing corporations.

The panel, however, felt RTAs, CRAs and debenture trustees need not be categorized as MIIs but suggested that RTAs should have tighter norms.

In September 2017, Sebi had defined qualified RTAs (QRTAs) as “RTAs servicing more than 20 million folios”. The Sebi panel felt that once an RTA becomes a QRTA, enhanced ownership norms should be applied to them.

In India, there are only two RTAs (Karvy Computershare Pvt. Ltd. and Computer Age Management Services Pvt. Ltd.) which service 90% of the mutual fund folios. Karvy has around 40% market share in corporate folios.

The Sebi panel said QRTAs should either have a dispersed ownership or be owned by regulated entities or entities in the business of RTA.

While regulated entities can be allowed to hold 100% in RTAs, unregulated entities should not be allowed to hold more than 49% collectively and 15% individually in RTAs, the panel said. If the QRTA is an in-house entity or one that performs the function exclusively for one entity only, such ownership norms may not be required, the paper said. However, when an RTA becomes a QRTA, it may be given five years to achieve the proposed ownership structure, said the Sebi panel.

Sebi proposed that the board of RTA should have public interest directors (PIDs) when it becomes a QRTA.

“If the chairperson is a non-executive director, the QRTA shall have at least one-third of the board of directors as PIDs; and where the QRTA does not have a regular non-executive chairperson, it shall have at least half of the board of directors as PIDs,” according to the Sebi panel.

With regard to CRAs, the panel said since Sebi has already put in place tighter norms for CRAs, they need not be categorized as MIIs and be subjected to further stringency.

However, the panel proposed that the so-called “Appeal Committee” in CRAs should be renamed as ‘Review Committee’, as the word appeal has a legal connotation to it. Further, the review committee of CRAs should have independent members, the Sebi panel said.

On DTs, which act as intermediaries between the issuer of debentures and the holders of debentures, the Sebi panel said there are already quite a few challenges before them in performing their obligations and that the function of DTs is still evolving. “Therefore, the committee is of the view that the review of ownership and governance of DTs is not the immediate priority.”

Source: Live Mint