Government of India

Ministry of Corporate Affairs

Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority

Ground Floor, Jeevan Vihar Building,

3, Parliament Street, New Delhi-110001

E-file No: 284374

Dated: 31.07.2025

PUBLIC NOTICE

Subject: Mandatory Filing of Form IEPF-1A with Prescribed Excel Template under Rule 5 (4A) of the IEPF (Accounting, Audit, Transfer and Refund) Rules, 2016.

– Final Compliance Deadline: 30.08.2025

The Investor Education and Protection Fund Authority (IEPFA), in exercise of its regulatory mandate under the Companies Act, 2013, had directed all concerned companies to ensure strict compliance with the provisions of Rule 5 (4A) of the IEPF (Accounting, Audit, Transfer and Refund) Rules, 2016 (Rules), as inserted vide Notification G.S.R. 571(E) dated 14th August 2019 w.e.f. 20th day of August, 2019 which reads as under:-

“(4A) The companies which have transferred any amount referred to in clauses (a) to (d) of sub-section (2) of section 205C of the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956) to Investor Education and Protection Fund or Central Government, but have not filed the statement or have filed the statement in any format other than in excel template, as required under sub-rule (1) of rule 5, shall submit details mentioned in sub-rule (1) of rule 5 in Form No. IEPF – 1A along with excel template within sixty days of notification of these amended rule.”

2. As per above, a company is mandatorily required to file Form IEPF-1A along with the prescribed Excel template if:

• Any amount referred to in clauses (a) to (d) of sub-section (2) of Section 205C of the Companies Act, 1956 has been transferred to the IEPF or Central Government without submitting the required statement in any format other than in excel template, as required under sub-rule (1) of rule 5, or
• The companies filed Form IEPF-1 under clauses (a) to (n) of sub-section (2) of Section 125 of the Companies Act, 2013 in any format other than the mandated Excel template after the notification date.

2.1 The due date for this compliance was 60 days from the date of the Notification dated 20th August, 2019. The Authority has observed that despite multiple instructions and adequate time provided, over 3,000 companies (comprising 1758 listed and 1103 unlisted companies) have not filedForm IEPF1A or have submitted statements in non-compliant formats. Currently, the Authority holds more than 31,000 SRNs of IEPF-1/7 that were filed in formats other than the Excel template which leads to difficulty in identifying the amounts due to the investor, leading to short payments and investor complaints.

3. As the IEPFA has moved to MCA21 V3, companies that have not filed Form IEPF-1A along with the prescribed Excel template may do so within 30 days of the issue of this notice. A list of relevant SRNs, along with the applicable Excel templates, shall be shared with the Nodal Officers of the companies via their registered email addresses. This measure is intended to facilitate faster disbursal of claims.

4. Companies are hereby informed that failure to comply with the above directive on or before 30.08.2025 shall attract regulatory action under the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013.

5. All stakeholders are hereby directed to ensure compliance with the above requirements.

6. This issues with the approval of the Competent Authority.

IEPF Authority

Ministry of Corporate Affairs

Government of India

Mandatory IEPF filing requirement: companies must submit corrected filings with prescribed Excel templates or face regulatory action. Companies that transferred amounts to the Investor Education and Protection Fund or Central Government but filed required statements in formats other than the mandated Excel template must submit Form IEPF-1A with the prescribed Excel template under Rule 5(4A). The IEPF Authority will provide relevant SRNs and templates to companies' nodal officers to enable compliant filing; failure to comply within the specified deadline will attract regulatory action under the Companies Act, 2013.