Professional certification of company filings enables verification and triggers inquiry, disciplinary referral and debarment for false information.
Registered members of specified professional bodies may authenticate filed documents under the Companies Act, 2013 in accordance with the Companies (Registration Offices and Fees) Rules, 2014. Registrars must verify forms and attachments; if filings are false, misleading or incomplete the Regional Director or Registrar will conduct a prompt inquiry with a fifteen day notice, report to the Ministry's E Governance cell within fifteen days after the explanation period, and recommend statutory action and referral to professional institutes for disciplinary proceedings and possible debarment from future filings. Fortnightly and monthly reports are required.

Annual return filing criteria revised: companies qualify for filing if they meet paid-up capital or turnover thresholds.
The Order substitutes the phrase in sub section (2) of Section 92 so that the annual return filed by a listed company or by a company having such paid up capital or turnover as may be prescribed now applies when a company meets either the prescribed paid up capital or the prescribed turnover threshold; the Order takes effect immediately and was issued under the Central Government's power to remove difficulties, with a later corrigendum correcting the text.

Availability of e-forms enables filing specified physical forms as attachments to general e-forms, requiring ROC verification.
W.e.f. 28 April 2014, stakeholders must attach seventeen prescribed physical forms to three designated general e-forms when filing, ensuring the physical forms are duly signed/certified as required; mappings of which physical form attaches to which general e-form are provided. Specific general e-forms allow related filings (e.g., extensions of AGM/accounting period, liquidation documents, director particulars, petitions to Central Government). Registrars of Companies and approving officers are required to verify all fields on attached physical forms, including company name and CIN, before registry or approval.

Commencement of Companies Act accounting provisions applies to financial years commencing on or after the Act's commencement.
Provisions of the Companies Act, 2013 relating to books of account, preparation and filing of financial statements, auditors' reports, Board's report, Schedule II and Schedule III, and the relevant rules came into force on 1 April 2014 and apply to financial years commencing on or after that date; financial years commencing earlier than 1 April 2014 are governed by the Companies Act, 1956.

Certification of annual returns must be by a company secretary in practice in the prescribed form confirming disclosure and compliance.
Where an annual return is filed by a listed company or by a company meeting the prescribed paid-up capital or turnover thresholds, the return must be certified by a company secretary in practice in the prescribed form, stating that the annual return discloses the facts correctly and adequately and that the company has complied with all provisions of the Act.

Related party definition clarified: company where director and relatives hold above prescribed share threshold qualifies as related
The Central Government clarifies that where a director or manager is a director of a public company and, together with his relatives, holds more than the prescribed shareholding threshold of its paid-up capital, that public company shall be treated as a related party; the Companies 1st (Removal of Difficulties) Order, 2014 takes effect on publication in the Official Gazette.

Company registration fees and delayed-filing additional charges govern filings, capital increases, inspections and special applications.
A structured fee schedule prescribes base and additional charges for company filings and registrations under the Companies Act, differentiating companies by nominal share capital and by member-based companies without share capital. Fees for incorporation, document submission and Registrar recordings are graduated by capital or membership, with a cap on aggregate additional fees. A multi-band late-filing regime imposes incremental multipliers of normal fees, while percentage-per-month surcharges apply to delayed filings for increases in authorised capital. Separate scales govern Central Government applications, dormant-company annual fees, inspections and certified copies.

Companies Act, 2013 provisions notified; table maps corresponding Companies Act, 1956 provisions and transitional continuations.
The Ministry notifies that 282 sections of the Companies Act, 2013 have been notified in stages and provides a table mapping each notified provision of the Companies Act, 2013 to corresponding provisions of the Companies Act, 1956. The table identifies which 1956 provisions continue to remain in force for transitional application and is issued as a ready reckoner for registrars, regional directors and stakeholders, with a direction to refer to separate notifications and circulars for authoritative guidance.

Roll out of company forms under Companies Act, 2013: staged e form availability, transitional fee waiver and legacy form continuance.
The Ministry prescribes a staged roll out of e forms under the Companies Act, 2013 with an interim suspension of new e form filings for an initial period, a fee waiver for specified event based filings during the transition window, continued front office services, continuity of listed legacy forms, phased publication of new e forms (including test versions), and mapping of old Act forms to new Act e forms with enabled or disabled options reflecting statutory coverage.

Online payment of stamp duty and court fee now enabled, streamlining certified copy issuance and SRN-based processing.
Electronic payment of stamp duty and court fee for certified true copies is enabled through the MCA portal; court fee is added to MCA fee per SRN based on the company's State, and stamp duty is calculated separately with a distinct SRN according to document, number of copies and State. An acknowledgement for stamp duty payment will be appended to the certified copy, and jurisdictional ROCs must send certified copies by post within 15 days, recording the court-fee stamp against dispatch or retaining the challan printout; court-fee stamps paid by ROC are booked as office expenses.

Section 180 compliance: prior section 293 resolutions on borrowings and security deemed sufficient for a transitional period.
Resolutions passed under section 293 of the Companies Act, 1956 prior to 12.09.2013 authorising borrowings and/or creation of security within prescribed limits are regarded as satisfying the requirements of section 180 of the Companies Act, 2013 for a transitional one-year period from notification of section 180, addressing implementation difficulties where companies relied on pre-existing ordinary resolutions.

Holding company guarantee exemption continues for loans to subsidiaries used for principal business until statutory notification.
The Ministry clarifies that, until the Companies Act, 2013 provisions are notified, the exemption in clause (d) of sub section (8) of Section 372A, 1956 shall apply to guarantees or securities provided by a holding company for loans advanced by banks or financial institutions to its subsidiary, provided such loans are exclusively utilized by the subsidiary for its principal business activities.

Use of 'National' in company names restricted; government stake required, and 'Bank'/'Exchange' require NOC.
Companies and LLPs must not include the word National in their names unless they are government companies with Central or State government stake; registrars must enforce this rule. Use of the word Bank is permitted only with a No Objection Certificate from the banking regulator, and use of stock Exchange or Exchange requires a No Objection Certificate from the securities regulator.

Central Government representation under Section 394A: Regional Directors must solicit income tax and regulator comments before filing.
Regional Directors acting under Section 394A must invite the Income Tax Department's comments within 15 days upon receipt of notice and seek any necessary feedback from other sectoral regulators before filing the Government's representation; lack of response from the Income Tax Department is to be treated as no objection. Regional Directors must not decide the correctness of regulators' views and should refer matters of doubt to the Ministry before filing. This procedure is effective immediately.