MCA INC-22A ACTIVE Company Status

A MCA INC-22A ACTIVE Company Status in India governs an aspect of the company's affairs, fixing the obligations of directors, shareholders or the company itself.

The ACTIVE filing was conceived as a one-time mass verification exercise targeting the large number of companies registered on MCA21 that had either ceased operations without being formally wound up, operated from fictitious addresses, or existed only as shell entities with no physical presence. The Ministry of Corporate Affairs estimates that hundreds of thousands of companies on its register were inactive, struck off, or operating from addresses that no longer existed. INC-22A was the mechanism to separately identify genuinely active, compliant companies from dormant or fraudulent registrations.

Section 12 of the Companies Act 2013 requires every company to maintain a registered office in India, capable of receiving communications and notices, from the day of commencement of business (or within 30 days of incorporation). The registered office address must be filed with the ROC through Form INC-22 and any change must be notified through Form INC-23. The ACTIVE filing verifies that the registered office recorded on MCA21 actually exists and is used by the company, by requiring geo-tagged photographs that the MCA can check against Google Maps and satellite imagery.

Companies that failed to file INC-22A by the prescribed deadline were tagged as 'ACTIVE non-compliant' on the MCA21 company master data page — a public record visible to any person searching the company's CIN. The ACTIVE non-compliant tag triggers specific restrictions: the company cannot file Form DIR-12 (director changes), Form INC-22 (registered office change), Form SH-7 (alteration of share capital), or Form PAS-3 (return of allotment) until the ACTIVE tag is cleared by filing INC-22A with a ₹10,000 late fee.

The ACTIVE initiative's secondary purpose was to confirm that all active companies had completed their annual filing obligations — MGT-7 Annual Return and AOC-4 Financial Statements — since INC-22A requires the Service Request Numbers (SRNs) of the most recent MGT-7 and AOC-4 filings. Companies with overdue annual returns had to clear their compliance backlog before filing INC-22A, effectively using the ACTIVE requirement to drive broader statutory compliance across the corporate sector.

Form INC-22A must be filed by any company incorporated on or before 31 December 2017 that has not yet filed it — either because it missed the original deadline and is currently tagged as 'ACTIVE non-compliant', or because it is completing a compliance catch-up after a period of inactivity.

Private limited companies incorporated in the decade of rapid startup growth between 2005 and 2017 — including technology companies in Bengaluru's Koramangala and Indiranagar, manufacturing companies in Pune, Nashik, and Coimbatore, and trading companies in Mumbai, Surat, and Delhi NCR — that did not file INC-22A during the initial 2019 window remain tagged as ACTIVE non-compliant. Any such company seeking to change its directorship, alter its share capital, or change its registered office will find its DIR-12, SH-7, and INC-22 filings rejected by the MCA21 system until INC-22A is filed.

Family-held businesses and non-trading companies — companies incorporated by professionals and individuals as vehicles for holding investments or property, which have been dormant for years — must file INC-22A if they were incorporated on or before 31 December 2017 and were not struck off under the MCA's 2017 strike-off exercise under Section 248. These companies frequently surface when the promoters wish to sell their assets or undertake a merger, triggering a due diligence exercise that reveals the ACTIVE non-compliant status.

Companies undergoing merger and acquisition due diligence conducted by law firms such as AZB & Partners, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, Khaitan & Co., and Trilegal routinely encounter ACTIVE non-compliant tags in target companies. The target company must clear the tag before the transaction can proceed, since buyers and their lenders require a clean MCA status as a condition of closing.

Public limited companies and companies listed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE) or BSE Limited that were incorporated before 31 December 2017 must also maintain ACTIVE compliant status. SEBI Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements (LODR) Regulations require listed companies to maintain accurate and current information with regulators — an ACTIVE non-compliant tag would constitute a compliance failure reportable to the stock exchange.

The ₹10,000 flat late fee for filing INC-22A after the original deadline is modest compared to the compliance blockages caused by the ACTIVE non-compliant tag. Any company with pending ACTIVE compliance should prioritise resolving it before undertaking any structural corporate action.

Form INC-22A filed on the MCA21 portal must contain the following particulars to be accepted by the Registrar of Companies and to update the company's status from 'ACTIVE non-compliant' to 'ACTIVE compliant' under Rule 25A of the Companies (Incorporation) Rules 2014.

The company identification section records the Corporate Identification Number (CIN), full company name as per the Certificate of Incorporation, registered office address (number, street, city, state, pin code), email address, and the date of incorporation. The CIN links the INC-22A filing to all other MCA21 records for the company.

The registered office photographs — the most distinctive element of INC-22A — require two images. The first is an exterior photograph showing the company's name board displaying the company name and registered address, affixed at the building where the registered office is located. The name board must be in English (and optionally in the regional language). The second photograph is an interior photograph of the registered office showing at least one director of the company physically present at the office. Both photographs must have been taken at the time of or immediately before filing. The MCA verifies that the name board matches the company name on record and that the exterior matches the stated address.

The geo-tagging details record the latitude and longitude of the registered office to five or more decimal places. These coordinates must match the building location on Google Maps or equivalent. The geo-coordinates are used by the MCA for physical verification of the registered office location. For co-working spaces and business centres — such as AWFIS, WeWork, 91springboard, or GoWork locations across major Indian cities — the coordinates of the specific floor and suite should be provided where possible.

The director details section lists every director of the company at the time of INC-22A filing, including their full name, DIN, date of appointment, and DIN status (must be 'Approved'). Any director with a deactivated DIN must reactivate it by filing overdue DIR-3 KYC with the ₹5,000 late fee before INC-22A can be submitted. The signatory director who digitally signs INC-22A must not be disqualified under Section 164(2) of the Companies Act 2013.

The compliance filings section requires the Service Request Numbers (SRNs) of the company's most recently filed Annual Return (Form MGT-7 or MGT-7A) and Financial Statements (Form AOC-4 or AOC-4 XBRL). Companies that have not filed these returns must first file them — with applicable additional fees — before INC-22A can be completed. The MCA21 system validates the SRNs entered.

The statutory auditor details record the name and Firm Registration Number (FRN) of the current statutory auditor as per the ADT-1 filed with the ROC. For companies required to have a Cost Auditor under the Companies (Cost Records and Audit) Rules 2014, the Cost Auditor's details are also recorded.

The employee strength section records the number of employees of the company as of the filing date — this is for statistical data collection by the MCA and does not affect the form's acceptance.

The digital signature requirement mandates that INC-22A be certified by a director of the company using a valid Class 3 DSC registered on MCA21. The director's DIN must be in 'Approved' status. Companies filing INC-22A after the original deadline must pay the ₹10,000 late fee — a flat fee regardless of duration of delay — through the MCA21 payment gateway before the form is processed.

Under Indian law, the Indian Contract Act 1872 governs contractual obligations, with Section 10 setting essential requirements for valid agreements. The Companies Act 2013 regulates corporate entities through the Registrar of Companies (ROC) and Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA). The Industrial Disputes Act 1947 and state labour commissioners govern employment disputes. The Information Technology Act 2000 and IT (Reasonable Security Practices) Rules 2011 protect personal data. The Income Tax Act 1961 and Goods and Services Tax Act 2017 govern tax obligations through the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) and GST Council. The forms-legal.com MCA INC-22A ACTIVE Company Status template covers the mandatory elements under Companies Act, 2013.