55000 shell companies struck off

The Central government has said that it has struck off around 55,000 shell companies in the second phase of its efforts to curb illicit fund flows and some of the companies have been served notices and are under scrutiny.

The corporate affairs ministry has already struck off over 2.26 lakh firms for non filing of financial statements or annual returns for a continuous period of two years or more as part of the first phase of the drive.

“So far as the shell companies are concerned, in the first phase, we have struck off around 2.26 lakh companies, which were not only non-compliant firms but also most of them were bogus. More than 400 companies were working from a one room set up.

“In the second phase, we have already struck off around 55,000 companies and more are on the anvil,” minister of state for corporate affairs PP Chaudhary told.