The Corporate Affairs Ministry (MCA) has mandated that all foreign companies’ incorporation would be handled by the Central Registration Centre (CRC) at New Delhi.
The new centralised regime — which was earlier handled by Registrar of Companies — will come into effect from September 9.
The latest move, which indicates an expansion in the scope of the CRC, will streamline and centralise the registration process for foreign companies. The CRC was set up in 2016 to expedite the incorporation process of companies, both Indian and foreign.
Hitherto, the Registrar of Companies (RoCs) played a critical role in the incorporation activity, said company law experts.
As on March 31, 2024, the total number of foreign companies registered in the country were 5,164 with 66 companies having been registered in the last quarter of the previous year.
Experts’ take
Anjali Malhotra, Partner- Regulatory, Nangia & Co LLP, said this MCA move to amend the Companies (Registration of Foreign Companies) Rules, 2014 will will centralise the registration process for foreign companies.
“The centralisation aims to streamline the registration process and enhancethe efficiency and consistency in handling registrations,” she said.
Sagar Aggarwal, Managing Partner at Areness law, said the step will streamline, expedite and make transparent the entry of foreign companies in India.
“With the Government promoting establishment of base in India under different schemes such as PLI (production-linked incentive) or preparing a regulatory framework for a mandatory establishment in India, faster processing of such incorporation requests from foreign companies was much called for,” Aggarwal said.
Sucharita Basu, Managing Partner, AQUILAW, said new norms require foreign companies to file for their incorporation in Form FC-1 with Registrar, Central Registration Centre (CRC), instead of the Registrar with the jurisdiction in New Delhi.
“Extending this CRC platform now to foreign companies is part of consistent steps undertaken by the MCA for improving the ease of doing business in India,” Basu said.
Shiju PV, Senior Partner, IndiaLaw LLP, said the latest MCA amendment allows a foreign company to use the CRC facility for registration. This will further help ease of doing business in India, Shiju added.