MCA Updated

MCA updates due to Covid 19

Apr 2, 2020 | Blog, Companies Act

Ministry of Corporate Affairs in view of COVID-19 have taken the following measures to reduce the compliance burden and other risks:

UPDATE NO.1
Non-compliance of minimum residency in India for a period of at least 182 days by at least one director of every company, under Section 149 of the Companies Act, 2013 shall not be treated as a non-compliance for the financial year 2019-20. 

UPDATE NO.2
The mandatory requirement of holding meetings of the Board of the companies within the intervals provided in section 173 of the Companies Act, 2013 (CA-13) (120 days) stands extended by a period of 60 days till next two quarters i.e., till 30th September, 2020. Accordingly, as a one-time relaxation the gap between two consecutive meetings of the Board may extend to 180 days till the next two quarters, instead of 120 days as required in the Companies Act, 2013.

UPDATE NO. 3
No additional fees shall be charged for late filing during a moratorium period from 1st April to 30th September, 2020, in respect of any document, return, statement etc., required to be filed in the MCA-21 Registry, irrespective of its due date, which will not only reduce the compliance burden, including financial burden of companies/ LLPs at large, but also enable long-standing non-compliant companies/ LLPs to make a ‘fresh start’.
UPDATE NO. 4
The Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order,2020 shall be made applicable from the financial year 2020-2021 instead of being applicable from the financial year 2019- 2020 notified earlier. This will significantly ease the burden on companies & their auditors for the financial year 2019-20. A separate notification has been issued for this purpose.
UPDATE NO. 5
As per Para VII (1) of Schedule IV to the Companies Act, 2013, an Independent Directors (lDs) are required to hold at least one meeting without the attendance of Non-independent directors and members of management.For the financial year 2019-20, if the lDs of a company have not been able to hold such a meeting, the same shall not be viewed as a violation. The lDs, however, may share their views amongst themselves through telephone or e-mail or any other mode of communication, if they deem it to be necessary.
UPDATE NO. 6
Requirement under section 73(2)(c) of Companies Act, 2013 to create the deposit repayment reserve of 20% of deposits maturing during the financial year 2020-21 before 30th April 2020 shall be allowed to be complied with till 30th June 2020. 
UPDATE NO. 7
Requirement under rule 18 of the Companies (Share Capital & Debentures) Rules, 2014 to invest or deposit at least 15% of amount of debentures maturing in specified methods of investments or deposits before 30th April 2020, may be complied with till 30th June 2020.
UPDATE NO. 8
Newly incorporated companies are required to file a declaration for Commencement of Business within ‘180 days of incorporation under section 10A of the CA-13.An additional period of 180 more days is allowed for this compliance. 
UPDATE NO. 9
Companies Affirmation of Readiness towards COVID-19 Form MCA has issued Companies Affirmation of Readiness towards COVID-19 Form which is a simple web form with minimum fields and which can be filed from anywhere. There is no requirement of DSC and does not involve payment of any fee. Companies/LLPs have been advised to use the service w.e.f 23rd March 2020 onwards at the earliest convenience. Stakeholders have been requested to please note that there is no fee applicable for FORM CAR (Companies Affirmation of Readiness Towards COVID-19).
UPDATE NO. 10
Considering the need to take precautionary steps to overcome the outbreak of the coronavirus (Covid-19), the Government has in-principle decided to relax the requirement of holding Board meetings with physical presence of directors under section 173 (2) r/w rule 4 of the Companies (Meetings of Board and its Powers) Rules, 2014 for approval of the annual financial statements, Board’s report, etc. Such meetings may till 30th June, 2020 be held through video conferencing or other audio visual means by duly ensuring compliance of rule 3 of the said rules. 
UPDATE NO. 13
Sensitization of Nidhi companies Sensitization of Nidhi companies towards compliance of provisions of section 406 of Companies Act, 2013 and Nidhi Rules, 2014 as amended vide Nidhi (Amendment) Rules, 2019 w.e.f 15.08.2019 and general public to invest in genuine and compliant Nidhis only

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