MCA operationalises Central Processing Centre for Centralised Processing of Corporate Filings

On the lines of continuous endeavour to provide Ease of Doing Business in pursuance to Union Budget Announcement 2023-24, the Central Processing Centre (CPC) has been established to process forms filed as part of various regulatory requirements under the Companies Act and Limited Liability Partnership Act (LLP Act) in a centralised manner, requiring no physical interaction with the stakeholders.

CPC will handle the 12 forms/applications listed below beginning on February 16, 2024, followed by other forms beginning April 1, 2024.

Later, forms/applications filed under the LLP Act are proposed to be centralised. Based on filing trends, CPC is estimated to process approximately 2.50 lakh forms annually once functioning properly.

The Centralised Processing Centre (CPC) has received 4,910 forms since it began operations. The forms shall be processed in a timely and faceless manner. The processing of applications at CRC and C-PACE also does not require any actual interaction with stakeholders.

The Central Registration Centre (CRC), Centralised Processing for Accelerated Corporate Exit (C-PACE), and CPC will ensure that applications and forms filed for incorporation, closure, and meeting regulatory requirements are processed quickly, allowing companies to be incorporated, closed, alter and raise capital, and easily complete their various compliances under corporate laws.

Following the establishment of the CPC, jurisdictional Registrar of Companies (RoC) will be required to focus more on their basic functions of inquiries, inspection, and investigation in order to ensure effective corporate governance.

Further Steps towards Ease of Doing Business

Over the years, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has made many initiatives to improve the ease of doing business.

Initiatives aimed at facilitating company incorporation have played a key role in the EoDB. The Central Registration Centre (CRC) was designed to centralise, expedite and transparent processing of applications for company and LLP incorporation in the Non-STP (Straight Through Processing) method.

This has produced the expected results. While 1,02,063 companies and LLPs were incorporated in FY 2013-14, 1,95,586 were incorporated in FY 2022-23, representing a 92% growth.

Incorporation of LLPs and companies till 14.02.2024 this financial year has been not only more than the previous Financial Year 2022-23, but also the highest as compared to any of the previous financial years.

Following the ease of entry, it was announced in the Union Budget Speech 2022-23 that Centralised Processing for Accelerated Corporate Exit (C-PACE) would be established to expedite the voluntary closure of companies under Section 248(2) of the Companies Act, 2013 from more than two years to less than six months.

As a result, C-PACE was established and became active on May 1, 2023. Under C-PACE, applications filed for voluntary closure of companies are getting processed in Non-STP within an average time of less than 4 months (about 100 days) compared to an average time of more than 18 months earlier.

C-PACE has processed and closed 12,441 companies so far. Only 3,368 applications are pending with C-PACE, the lowest as compared to any previous year.