Government identifies 87 firms in the list of vanishing companies

NEW DELHI: The government on Thursday said there are 87 firms in the list of ‘vanishing companies’. “Currently, there are 87 companies that are falling in the list of vanishing companies,” minister of state for corporate affairs R P N Singh said in the Lok Sabha.

Explaining the term 'vanishing companies', Singh said it is applied to the companies which cease to file their statements of return or where, after raising capital, the whereabouts of their registered office or directors aren't known. He said, “A Central Coordination and Monitoring Committee was constituted in 1999 to identify such companies and recommended further action against them”.

Initially, Singh said 238 such companies were identified, out of which 119 subsequently started filing their returns with Registrars of Companies (RoCs) concerned and were, therefore, removed from the list.

“Another 32 companies of such cases have gone into liquidation,” he said, adding that prosecutions in respect of 86 firms have so far been filed under Companies Act for inducing investment of money by misrepresentation of facts.