Whenever you will research a Company, you would come across a word ‘Status’. Every company in India (i.e 14,13,590 companies as on 2 June 2015) has a status. What does this ‘Status’ mean? Is it important to give attention to it?
Well I guess, Yes. The ‘Status’ tell the current state of the company. Whether it is active and operating or dormant or it has been struck off and closed. There are 14 such status that a company could be carrying.
This is how we can categorise them:
- Active
- Dormant
- Active in Progress
- Under liquidation
- Under process of Striking Off
- Closed
- Strike off
- Amalgamated
- Liquidated
- Dissolved
- Converted to LLP
- Converted to LLP and dissolved
Other status:
- Not available for e-filing
- To be migrated
- Captured
What do these statuses mean?
Active: Out of nearly 15 lacs companies in India, around 10.5 lacs are Active companies. An ‘Active’ means it is operating and is regular in filling its Balance sheets, Profit & Loss Statements, Annual Returns and other statutory documents. When a company is incorporated, it is given the status of ‘Active’.
Dormant: There are around 1.4 lac dormant companies in India. A Dormant company is an inactive company which has not been carrying any business or has not made any significant accounting transaction in the last two years.
Such a company may make an application to the Registrar for obtaining the status of a dormant company. Or the Registrar suo moto can direct such a company for the status of the Dormant Company if the company has not filed its statutory filings for consecutively last three years or more.
However, it is not always that dormant companies mean that they are defunct. A company could be dormant because it wants to hold an asset for future and till then its wants to save its compliance cost. It can then become ‘Active’ later by making an application to the Registrar of Companies, when it deems fit.
Active in progress: A dormant company is allowed 21 days by the Ministry to do its pending annual filings. During this period the status of the company remains as ‘Active in Progress’. After these 21 days, if the company has still not filed its financials, then the company is given the status of ‘Dormant’.
Strike Off: There are currently 2.4 lacs Struck off companies in India. These Companies are registered under Companies Act but due to various reasons they are inoperative or defunct. They, therefore, can apply to Registrar of Companies to get their name struck off from the companies register.
The Registrar suo moto can also strike off the name of a company if it is not carrying any business or operations.
Under process of Striking Off: A company which is undergoing the process of ‘Striking Off’ either voluntarily or by action of the Registrar is given the status ‘Under process of Striking Off’.
Liquidated / Dissolved: A company is given the status of Dissolved or Liquidated when its affairs have been completely wound up. In such case, the company is then given the status of ‘Dissolved / Liquidated’ and the company ceases to exist.
Under liquidation: When a company is undergoing a winding up process, dissolution or liquidation, it is said to be under liquidation.
Amalgamated: A company is said to be ‘Amalgamated’ when it has merged into another company. For example there are two companies – A Limited & B Limited. A Limited merges into B Limited. Now, A Limited as such will cease to exist and only one entity will remain ‘AB Limited’.
Converted to LLP and Dissolved / Converted to LLP: Companies Act allows a Company to convert itself into an LLP by following certain procedures. When the Company gets converted into an LLP, the Company ceases to exist and only the new LLP remains.
There are three other status that a few companies carry –
- Not available for e-filing – 8,712 companies
- Captured – 47 companies
- To be migrated – 17 companies
I am not very clear what do these statuses exactly mean and when companies get these statuses.
You can check the status of each and every company at www.tofler.in. Tofler is the largest research platform of Indian Companies. You can also access balance sheet, profit and loss, research reports on Indian companies at www.tofler.in
Explore Company360 – India’s most comprehensive business research tool
