'Over 1.62L companies deregistered till July 12'

Over 1.62 lakh companies that have not been carrying out business activities for long have been deregistered and a series of actions are being taken against shell firms, the government said on Friday.

While the term 'shell company' is not defined under the Companies Act, Corporate Affairs Minister Arun Jaitley told the Lok Sabha that many such entities have been found to be indulging in large scale tax violations.

"However, the Registrars of Companies (RoCs) have removed 1,62,618 companies from the register of companies as on July 12, 2017, after following the due process under Section 248 of the Companies Act, 2013," he said during Question Hour.

His response was to a query on whether a large number of shell companies and entities that are primarily used as conduits for dealing in black money and hawala transactions have come to the notice of the government.

Out of the 1,62,618 companies that have been struck-off the register, the registration of 33,000 was cancelled by RoC (Mumbai), according to a written reply by the minister of state for corporate affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal.