KEY FEATURES - FILING OF CRL- 1

KEY FEATURES - FILING OF CRL- 1

Information to the Registrar by company regarding the number of layers of subsidiaries

MCA has issue [1]Notification on 20^th September, 2017 in respect of “Numbers of Layers of Investment in Subsidiaries” of Company. These rules called as Companies (Restriction on number of layers) Rules, 2017

MCA has issued CRL -1 form w.e.f. 26^th February, 2018. Now this form is available on MCA website. 

 Feature of CRL - 1

ü  Enter the number of layers of subsidiaries as on the date of commencement of these rules i.e. 20^th September, 2017. (The field value is restricted to 99).

ü  Enter the number of subsidiaries in each layer.

ü  The value entered should be greater than zero

ü  System shall auto-calculate Sum of all no. of subsidiaries entered in the layers

ü  Note - Disqualified director should not be able to sign the form

ü  The form will be processed in auto approval mode.

ü  Time limit (days) for filing 180 days from the date of publication in the Official Gazette

  

Note: Process for uploading of details of “Subsidiary” after filing of CRL-1 given at the end of the editorial.

Allowed Numbers - Layers of Investment

No Company other than below mentioned 4 categories of company shall have more than two layers of subsidiaries. 

Companies on which rules above not applicable Companies:

·         Banking Company

·         Non-banking Financial Company

·         Insurance Company

·         Government Company

Exemption to the Companies:

        i.            Acquiring Company incorporated outside India: These provisions shall not affect a company from acquiring a Company incorporated outside India with subsidiaries beyond two layers as per the law of such Country.

Note: If a company incorporated outside India and having more than 2 layers of subsidiaries according to their law. An Indian company acquiring that foreign body corporate then these provisions shall not affect such transaction. Indian Company can acquire foreign company which have more than 2 layers of subsidiaries.

      ii.            One Layer of Subsidiaries: For computing the numbers of layers, one layer which consists of one or more wholly owned subsidiary or subsidiaries shall not be taken into account.

Note: If a Company have more than 2 WOS or subsidiaries on one layer, such companies shall not taken into account while calculating the layers of subsidiaries. On one layer there may be more than 2 Subsidiaries or WOS’s.

Question:  If Company existing before 20^th September, 2017 (commencement of these rules) having more than 2 layers of subsidiaries. In such situation what is the way out?

Answer:

        i.            Such Company shall file, with the Registrar a return in Form CRL-1 disclosing the details specified therein, within a period of 150 [2]days from the date of publication of these rules in the Official Gazette

Note: Companies have to file CRL -1 within 150 days. (As per e-form Instruction Kit required to be file within 180 days from the date of publication of rules in the official Gazette. (i.e. 19^th March, 2018)

      ii.            Such Company shall not, after the date of commencement of these rules, have any additional layer of subsidiaries over and above the layers existing on such date; and

Note: Companies can continue with no. of layers as on 20.09.2017 without any restriction. Even there is no need to dis-investment in such excess no. layers of subsidiaries.

    iii.            Such Company shall not, in case one or more layers are reduced by it subsequent to the commencement of these rules, have the number of layers beyond the number of layers it has after such reduction or maximum layers allowed in sub rule (1), whichever is more.

Note: If any time after 20.09.2017 Company made dis-investment in any of its subsidiary (which is on and above counting of 2 layers) in that situation company can’t make new investment until unless its having less than 2 layers of subsidiaries.

Example: Company “XYX” having 6 layers of subsidiaries as on 20.09.2017. Company made disinvestment in one of its layers on 15.11.2017. Therefore, as on 15.11.2017 Company XYZ having 5 layers of subsidiaries. In such situation Company can’t make investment in one more company to reach its limit of 6 Companies. Because as per rules the limit is 2 layers.

NOTE:

In case Company having more than 2 layers of subsidiaries as on 20.09.2017 it’s has to ‘(i) file form CRL-1 with ROC within 150 days (ii) no need to reduce the excess no. of layers by dis- investment in Companies

UPLOAD DETAIL OF SUBSIDIARIES

§   After uploaded the form CRL-1 and SRN is generated, it is required to upload the details of the subsidiary companies within 15days from the payment date otherwise SRN shall marked as NTBR .

§  Login to MCA portal with the same credentials as was used to upload the CRL-1 form and then click the link under MCA Services > Upload Subsidiary Details to upload the details of subsidiaries.

§  Once the provided details are validated, the system is allowed to download the excel sheet. After validating the detail, click the ‘Generate Excel’ button to generate the excel file and fill in all the relevant information as per the instructions. The excel file shall be generated based on the information filed by the user in the CRL-1 form.

§  Fills the subsidiary data in excel as per the instructions and uploads the excel sheet by clicking the ‘Upload Excel’ button.

§  On click of ‘Submit’ button, system shall check whether the CIN/FCRN/LLPIN entered is ‘valid’ and is ‘Active’ in status. In case the CIN/FCRN/LLPIN is not Valid or ‘Active’, an error message shall be displayed as ‘CIN/FCRN/LLPIN is not valid/Active. Please enter the correct details’.

§  The system shall also perform the validation for the number of layers and the number of subsidiaries in a particular layer. System will notified for the error records in the excel sheet with appropriate color code.

§  In case the CIN/FCRN/LLPIN is ‘valid’ and ‘Active’ in status, the corresponding names should be pre-filled.

§  No system checks shall be performed where ‘Other registration number’ is selected as the type of registration. Enter the name of subsidiary/holding in such case.

§  Once all the details are submitted and there is no error w.r.t type of registration as ‘CIN/FCRN/LLPIN’, the data is saved in the database.

Penalties:

If any company contravenes any provision of these rules the company and every officer of the company who is in default shall be punishable with fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees and where the contravention is a continuing one, with a further fine which may extend to one thousand rupees for every day after the first during which such contravention continues.

(Author – CS Divesh Goyal, GOYAL DIVESH & ASSOCIATES Company Secretary in Practice from Delhi and can be contacted at csdiveshgoyal@gmail.com).

Disclaimer: The entire contents of this document have been prepared on the basis of relevant provisions and as per the information existing at the time of the preparation. Although care has been taken to ensure the accuracy, completeness and reliability of the information provided, I assume no responsibility therefore. Users of this information are expected to refer to the relevant existing provisions of applicable Laws. The user of the information agrees that the information is not a professional advice and is subject to change without notice. I assume no responsibility for the consequences of use of such information. IN NO EVENT SHALL I SHALL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGE RESULTING FROM, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OF THE INFORMATION

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[1] http://www.egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2017/179104.pdf

[2] (As per e-form Instruction Kit required to be file within 180 days from the date of publication of rules in the official Gazette. (i.e. 19^th March, 2018)