NEW DELHI: The government has identified over 16,500 companies as “confirmed shell companies”, while another 80,000 are under the lens and have been put in the suspect category, the finance ministry said.
The companies, which are suspected to have little business but large amounts of fund flow, are typically classified as shell companies as money — often collected in cash — is routed through a web of entities. While the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has created the database on the basis of “red flags” put together by law enforcement agencies, the government is unwilling to disclose them. Common directorship across the confirmed shell companies is, however, a criteria that the task force jointly headed by revenue and corporate affairs secretary has relied on to identify the shell companies.
In a statement, the finance ministry said that as part of the drive to get companies to file the returns mandated under the Companies Act, the registrars of companies (RoCs) have identified and removed the names of 2.26 lakh companies with close to 3.1 lakh directors getting disqualified. As part of the next round of action, another 2.26 lakh companies have been identified for not filing returns. In addition, over 7,000 limited liability partnership firms are also on the radar for not filing returns for 2015-16 and 2016-17. So far, the action is limited to issuing notices.
