Names of over 6,860 shell companies have been struck off from the Registrar of Companies (RoC) in 2018-19 in Tamil Nadu, including Andaman and Nicobar Islands, according to data provided by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
The names of the companies were not available immediately.
But a source at the ROC said that they have been constantly monitoring firms that don’t have active business.
During the last financial year, in Tamil Nadu 24,649 shell companies were de-registered, of which 3,977 were from Coimbatore.
In 2017-18, data for Andaman and Nicobar Islands was listed separately with 75 shell firms.
The statistics given by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in response to a Lok Sabha query shows that across the country 1,12,797 shell firms were struck off from the RoC, against 2,26,166 in 2017-18, a decrease of 50.12%.
This financial year, Mumbai has the highest number of shell companies de-registered – 24,384.
While Delhi and Haryana saw 24,279 companies being de-registered, 18,322 firms were struck off in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Companies Act, 2013
As per the Companies Act, 2013, a company can be de-registered if it has not been carrying on any business or operation for a period of two immediately preceding financial years and has not made any application within such period for obtaining the status of a dormant company.
Shell companies are used for illegal purpose such as tax evasion, money laundering, obscuring ownership, benami properties etc.
