In order to support and enable Companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) in India to focus on taking necessary measures to address the COVID-19 threat, including the economic disruptions caused by it, the following measures have been implemented by the MCA to reduce their compliance burden and other risks: –
| 1. | No additional fees | No additional fees shall be charged for late filing during the moratorium period from 01st April to 30th September, in respect of any document, return, statement etc., Â required to be filed in the MCA-21 Registry, irrespective of its due date, which will not only reduce the compliance burden, including financial burden of companies/ LLPs at large, but also enable long-standing non-compliant companies/ LLPs to make a ‘fresh start’. |
| 2. | Holding of Board meeting | The mandatory requirement of holding Board meetings within the intervals of 120 days stands extended by a period of 60 days till next two quarters i.e., till 30th September, 2020. |
| 3. | Implementation of CARO, 2020 | The Companies (Auditor’s Report) Order, 2020 shall be made applicable from the financial year 2020-2021 instead of being applicable from the financial year 2019-2020 notified earlier. |
| 4. | Independent directors meeting | Independent Directors (lDs) are required to hold at least one meeting without the attendance of Non-independent directors and members of management. For the financial year 2019-20, if the IDs of a company have not been able to hold such a meeting, the same shall not be viewed as a violation. The lDs, however, may share their views amongst themselves through telephone or e-mail or any other mode of communication, if they deem it to be necessary. |
| 5. | Deposit repayment reserve account | Requirement to create the deposit repayment reserve of 20% of deposits maturing during the financial year 2020-21 before 30th April, 2020 shall be allowed to be complied with till 30th June 2020. |
| 6. | Debentures repayment reserve account | Requirement to invest or deposit at least 15% of amount of debentures maturing in specified methods of investments or deposits before 30th April 2020, may be complied with till 30th June 2020. |
| 7. | Commencement of business by newly incorporated companies | Newly incorporated companies are required to file a declaration for Commencement of Business within 180 days of incorporation. An additional period of 180 more davs is allowed for this compliance. |
| 8. | Requirement of resident director | Non-compliance of minimum residency in India for a period of at least 182 days by at least one director of every company shall not be treated as a non-compliance for the financial year 2019-20. |