Two days before the deadline, one-third companies file financial statements

About 30 per cent of the total active companies had filed their financial statements, and much fewer had submitted annual returns as of October 27, 2023, for the last financial year, according to data shared by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) on Sunday.

The MCA has asked stakeholders to file both these returns in time and not wait for the last day, which ends on October 29. Last year too, the MCA had put out a similar request to stakeholders in order to avoid overburdening the MCA portal.

Those who file after October 29 would have to pay a penalty of Rs 100 for each day’s delay.

The MCA data showed that during FY24, as of 27 October 2023, 3.86 lakh financial statements and 2.08 lakh annual returns had been filed against 2.28 lakh financial statements and 1.44 lakh annual returns filed during the corresponding period of the last financial year.

The companies can file both annual returns and financial statements on Version 2 instead of the new Version 3. “We want to stabilise the new Version 3 before moving these two filings there,” a senior government official said.

Limited Liability Partnerships, however, can use Version 3 of the MCA portal to file the two returns.

As of January 31, 2023, the total number of companies registered under the Companies Act stood at 2,461,937. Of these, 1,517,008 were active companies, including 258,850 companies that were incorporated within the preceding 18 months, the August newsletter of MCA stated.