NFRA-1

MCA has deployed the form NFRA-1 on the site  https://nfra.gov.in/ 

This form is to be filed by the following entities:

(a) companies whose securities are listed on any stock exchange in India or outside India;

(b) unlisted public companies having paid-up capital of not less than rupees five hundred crores or having annual turnover of not less than rupees one thousand crores or having, in aggregate, outstanding loans, debentures and deposits of not less than rupees five hundred crores as on the 31st March of immediately preceding financial year;

(c) insurance companies, banking companies, companies engaged in the generation or supply of electricity, companies governed by any special Act for the time being in force or bodies corporate incorporated by an Act in accordance with clauses (b), (c), (d), (e) and (f) of sub-section (4) of section 1 of the Act;

(d) any body corporate or company or person, or any class of bodies corporate or companies or persons, on a reference made to the Authority by the Central Government in public interest; and

(e) a body corporate incorporated or registered outside India, which is a subsidiary or associate company of any company or body corporate incorporated or registered in India as referred to in clauses (a) to (d), if the income or networth of such subsidiary or associate company exceeds twenty per cent. of the consolidated income or consolidated networth of such company or the body corporate, as the case may be, referred to in clauses (a) to (d).

The form is required to be filed on or before 31st July, 2019. 

RTGS - extension of timings

RBI circular dated 28th May 2019

https://www.rbi.org.in/Scripts/NotificationUser.aspx?Id=11564&Mode=0

Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) System – Extension of Timings for Customer Transactions

A reference is invited to circular DPSS (CO) RTGS No.492/04.04.002/2015-16 dated September 1, 2015 on ‘Changes in RTGS time window’ and circular DPSS (CO) RTGS No.1926/04.04.002/2015-16 dated February 4, 2016 on ‘RTGS service charges for members and customers - Rationalisation’.

2. It has been decided to extend the timings for customer transactions (initial cut-off) in RTGS from 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm. Accordingly, the RTGS time window with effect from June 01, 2019 will be as under:

Sr. No.	Event	Time
1.	Open for Business	08:00 hours
2.	Customer transactions (Initial Cut-off)	18:00 hours
3.	Inter-bank transactions (Final Cut-off)	19:45 hours
4.	IDL Reversal	19:45 hours - 20:00 hours
5.	End of Day	20:00 hours

3. The time-varying charges for transactions in RTGS from 13:00 hours to 18:00 hours shall be ₹ 5 per outward transaction. The time varying charges structure is as under:

Sr. No.	Time of Settlement at the Reserve Bank of India		Time varying charge per outward transaction (in addition to flat processing charge) (exclusive of tax, if any)
	From	To
1	08:00 hours	11:00 hours	Nil
2	After 11:00 hours	13:00 hours	₹ 2.00
3	After 13:00 hours	18:00 hours	₹ 5.00
4	After 18:00 hours		₹ 10.00

4. This directive is issued under Section 10 (2) read with Section 18 of Payment and Settlement Systems Act 2007 (Act 51 of 2007).

The Magic Bullet

The Magic Bullet by Harry Stein is a medical thriller on the likes of Robin Cook books The Coma. Daniel Logan is an up and coming medical scientist who wants to work in frontier research in cancer cure. He is accepted into the prestigious American Cancer Foundation, and stumbles upon a magic cure for cancer. But the machinations and deviousness of his seniors at the ACF puts paid to his efforts. How he extricates himself and his Italian girlfriend forms the rest of the narrative. I would sya a pulsating throbbing medical thriller. Goodreads 5/5

Class Action Suits

Section 245 of the companies act, 2013 is a new addition in the 2013 Act, which provides for a class action suit to be filed by such number of member(s)/ depositor(s) against the company. Vast powers have been given in the section against the company. The application under this section has to be made to the National company law tribunal (NCLT). But the Rules under this section which is in the National Company Law Tribunal Rules did not hitherto specify how many members/ depositors are required in order to file an application.

By an amendment to the NCLT Rules, the MCA has sorted that matter out.

So the class action suit can be brought by at least 5% of the total number of members in a company or 100 members, whichever is less.

Alternatively it can be bought by member or members holding not less than 5% of the issued share capital of the company in case of unlisted company and 2% in case of listed company.


In case of depositors, it is

5% of the total number of depositors or 100 depositors whichever is less OR

depositor or depositors to whom the company owes 5% of the total deposits of the company.

The copy of the notification can be found at the MCA site.

Strike off Rules

MCA has vide its notification dated 8th May, 2019 made some amendments to the rules governing strike off of companies. This is the Companies (Removal of Names of Companies from Register), Rules, 2016.

Well, first and foremost, they have doubled the fees for making an application for strike off from Rs.5000/- to Rs.10,000/-.

Secondly, they have clarified that all pending annual e-forms have to be filed by the company before making an application for strike off in form STK-2. Hitherto, this was not required and different ROCs interpreted it differently. This brings in uniformity. But MCA should have provided for closure of the companies without having to file the baggage annual e-forms. It will lead to huge cost to the company to file all delayed annual e-forms because the late fees is now Rs.100 per day from 1st July, 2018 onwards. It is not ease of doing business.

Thirdly if the company intends to file an STK-2 application after the MCA has initiated steps to close down the company, then also the company has to file all pending and overdue annual e-forms to make it upto date.

However, once the MCA has issued a notice to the company in form STK-7 after initiating closure action against the company as per above, then the company cannot file the form STK-2. Meaning once the action gets initiated at the MCA end, then the company cannot subvert it by filing a STK-2 application.

The accounts of the company which has to be attached to the form STK-2 is provided in form STK-8.

The copy of the notification is available at the MCA site. 

A Place called Freedom

This is of a different genre by Ken Follett, the master story teller. This is a historical fiction novel set in Scotland of 1766 when slave trade existed. Mack McAsh is a coal miner in the employ of Sir George Jamisson. Sir George has two sons and apart from mines he has some plantations in Virginia and some sugar plantation in Barbados. But he is perennially indebted. So he has to marry off his eldest son to Lizzie Halim of the Halim Estate. Lizzie's mother is also severely indebted and she seeks the hand of Robert the eldest son of Sir George. Mack is involved in a coal mining incident where he rescues several people. He constantly seeks freedom from slavery. The Halim estate does not have any mines but it is reckoned that after the marriage between the two families, mines can start there. But Lizzie is against such thing having seen with her own eyes the kind of degrading lives led by the miners. Follett is brilliant in his narrative and the pages moves exceedingly fast. Goodreads 5/5  

The Abduction

The Abduction by Mark Gimenez, my first one by him. Quite an engrossing and thrilling book of an abduction of a school girl with links going back to the Vietnam war, politics, bullying, neo Nazis, FBI. Mark takes the story on several levels but stays in contention with his narrative. Good book for those looking for a fast fiction. Goodreads review 5/5