Condonation of Delay Scheme 2018 lets defaulting companies file overdue annual returns and financial statements with specified fees.
The Condonation of Delay Scheme, 2018 (effective 01.01.2018-31.03.2018) permits defaulting companies (not struck off) to file overdue annual returns and financial statements due up to 30.06.2017 by temporarily reactivating deactivated DINs for the scheme period, filing prescribed eForms with statutory and additional fees, and submitting e Form CODS (fee Rs.30,000) to seek condonation; directors remain subject to civil or criminal liabilities for conduct during disqualification and DINs of non compliant directors may be deactivated after the scheme concludes.

Extension of filing deadline for Form CRA-4 permits filing without additional fees until the prescribed extended date.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has authorized an extension of the filing deadline for Form CRA-4 under the Companies (Cost Records and Audit) Amendment Rules, 2017, allowing companies with financial years commencing on or after 1 April 2016 to file without payment of additional fees until 31 December 2017; the measure is procedural, limited to waiver of additional fees and does not alter substantive compliance obligations.

Filing extension for financial statements allows AOC 4 and AOC 4 (XBRL non IndAS) submissions without additional fee.
The circular extends the filing deadline for e forms AOC 4, AOC 4 (XBRL non IndAS) and corresponding AOC 4 CFC until 28.11.2017 without levying additional fee; it also notes an existing separate extension allowing AOC 4 (XBRL using Ind AS) filings for 2016-2017 without additional fee until 31.03.2018.

Ind AS XBRL filing deadline extended; affected companies may file AOC-4 without additional fees pending taxonomy deployment.
The Ministry extended the last date for filing AOC-4 in Ind AS XBRL for the specified financial year without additional fee until the Ind AS XBRL taxonomy and supporting tools are deployed; companies must file when the taxonomy is available and will be notified accordingly.

Transfer of shares to IEPF Authority: companies must transfer affected shares into designated demat accounts and remit related cash benefits.
Companies must transfer shares subject to unpaid/unclaimed dividends whose seven year period completed between September 7, 2016 and October 31, 2017 to the IEPF Authority's designated demat accounts by way of corporate action, supplying prescribed shareholder information to the respective depository. Any cash benefits arising from those transferred shares (such as dividends, delisting proceeds, or winding up entitlements) shall be remitted to the Authority's linked bank account with Punjab National Bank, and no other amounts shall be transferred to that account.

Form DPT-3 availability: new e form to be deployed after November; existing e form permitted until rollout.
The amendment substitutes the existing Form DPT-3 with a new Form DPT-3 as the operative filing format. The Ministry clarifies that the new Form DPT-3 will be made available for e filing after the month of November, 2017, and until the new e form is deployed stakeholders may continue to use the existing e form for filings.

Ind AS implementation: holding companies follow corporate roadmap while payment and small finance banks follow banking roadmap.
Where a corporate holding company falls within the corporate sector roadmap for Ind AS implementation the holding company shall follow that roadmap, while Payment Banks and Small Finance Banks which are subsidiaries shall follow the banking sector Ind AS roadmap prescribed by the central banking regulator; such banking subsidiaries must provide their Ind AS financial data to the holding company for consolidation.

Joint venture definition clarifies exemption from independent director appointment under Rule 4 for certain unlisted public companies.
Amended Rule 4 exempts unlisted public companies that are joint ventures, wholly owned subsidiaries, or dormant companies from appointing independent directors; "joint venture" means a written joint arrangement where parties sharing joint control have rights to the net assets of the arrangement, consistent with Accounting Standards.

Exemption from reporting under section 143(3)(i) applies to eligible private companies' audit reports filed after notification.
The exemption from reporting under section 143(3)(i) applies to audit reports in respect of financial statements for financial years commencing on or after 1 April 2016, where those audit reports are made on or after the date of the notification.

GST Facilitation Cell established to coordinate nationwide GST rollout and engage stakeholders, professional institutes, and industry associations.
Establishment of a GST Facilitation Cell under the Economic Adviser to provide operational support for the nationwide GST roll-out, maintain liaison with stakeholders, professional institutes and industry associations, and serve as the Ministry's coordination focal point; formation issued with the approval of the Secretary.

Transmission of shares by operation of law permits companies to use transmission procedure instead of issuing duplicate securities.
Where shares are transferred to the IEPF by operation of law, companies may follow the transmission procedure used for transmission of shares instead of issuing duplicate share certificates; this aligns the corporate process with the legal nature of transfers to the IEPF under the applicable rules.

Due date for transfer of shares to IEPF extended pending demat account opening; companies must complete prescribed formalities.
Companies must transfer shares to the Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority where the seven year period is complete; for transfers completing within the period ending May 31, 2017 the due date was May 31, 2017. Because modalities for crediting shares to the Authority's demat account are being finalised and a special demat account is proposed, the transfer deadline is extended until a revised date is notified. Companies should complete all prescribed formalities and need not republish notices already issued due to this extension.

Transfer of shares to IEPF Authority: earlier circular withdrawn pending review; fresh instructions to follow.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has withdrawn the earlier circular on Transfer of Shares to IEPF Authority pending review. The withdrawal is effective immediately; fresh instructions will be issued in due course. The communication, issued with the approval of the competent authority, notifies stakeholders and nodal officers that no further action should be taken based on the withdrawn circular until new directions are published.

Limitation extinguishment bars fresh company applications where earlier filings were rejected as time barred under prior law.
Where an application was earlier rejected as time barred under Section 22(1)(ii)(b) of the Companies Act, 1956 for being filed after the twelve month period, the extinguished limitation is not revived by the lack of a prescribed limitation in Section 16(1)(a) of the Companies Act, 2013; applicants cannot file fresh Section 16(1)(a) applications to bypass the prior time bar decision.

Transfer of shares to IEPF Authority required by rule, via demat corporate action with prescribed formats and procedures.
Companies must transfer shares falling within the seven year dormancy completion window to the IEPF special demat account opened with NSDL by way of corporate action, providing shareholder information to NSDL in prescribed formats. NSDL will publish file formats and operational procedures to facilitate transfers and recordkeeping. NSDL will charge companies a per record transaction fee at transfer and annual custody/maintenance fees on a slab basis, which are additional to depository corporate action fees.

Offline challan regularisation for IEPF enables SRN generation so affected companies can file e form IEPF I online without extra fees.
Affected companies that paid to the Investor Education and Protection Fund using challans not generated on the electronic portal must submit prescribed challan details with professional authentication to the IEPF Authority by the deadline; the Authority will process the data and provide a front end service to generate an automated reference number usable as the SRN to file e form IEPF I online without additional fees within a limited window.

Closure of foreign company place of business: applies only where the company issued a prospectus or IDRs.
The mutatis mutandis application of Chapter XX to closure of a foreign company's place of business in India is confined to foreign companies that have issued a prospectus or Indian Depository Receipts (IDRs) pursuant to the capital raising regime applicable to foreign issuers.