New Delhi: The total number of companies registered during current fiscal (FY25) stands at 1,12,962 (till November 30), the government informed on Monday.
The Minister of State in the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Harsh Malhotra, said in a written reply in Lok Sabha that multiple initiatives have been taken by the government to promote the registration of companies.
Among the initiatives are Central Registration Centre (CRC) that was established in 2016 to centralise the online process of incorporation in order to expedite the registration process.
“The cost of starting a business has been reduced significantly through a number of initiatives. All companies with authorized capital up to Rs 15,00,000 are incorporated at zero fee,” said the government.
Amendments were made in the Companies Act, 2013 in the year 2020 to facilitate ease of doing business, decriminalisation of offences and to improve compliance requirements, specifically for small companies, one person companies, startups and producer companies.
The growth in new companies being set up during the current financial year (2024-25) comes on the back of a 15 per cent surge in new firms incorporated in 2023-24 as compared to 1.59 lakh companies registered in 2022-23.
The continuous growth reflects an improvement in the business climate of the country. At the end of March 2024, India had a total of 26,63,016 companies that were registered. There was also a total of 5,164 foreign companies registered in the country during that time frame, indicating the flow of FDI into the fast-growing economy.
MCA has in recent years been focused on reducing compliance burden and improving ease of doing business.
Meanwhile, Malhotra informed that corporate social responsibility (CSR) expenditure in aspirational districts has consistently increased from FY2020-21 to FY2022-23.
Rs 1,402.89 crore were spent in FY2022-23 as CSR expenditure in these districts, the minister added.
Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in January 2018, the aspirational districts programme (ADP) aims to quickly and effectively transform 112 most under-developed districts across the country.
–IANS