The corporate affairs ministry’s portal MCA21 is facing difficulties, not limited to the inability to upload filings. Users of the portal are also experiencing challenges in accessing updated documents. This issue has implications for professionals such as company law experts and company secretaries who heavily rely on the portal for their work.
Shravani Joshi, a company law expert working at Bengaluru-based equity management firm RuleZero, has reported that she and her colleagues are unable to access filings after November 2022. This lack of access affects their ability to analyze companies, which is crucial for market intelligence. Without timely and accurate data, their analysis becomes incomplete and unreliable. If the company they are analyzing is their client, they can request updated data directly from them. However, if the company is not their client, it becomes a significant problem.
For company secretary Srivani Tyarla, this lack of access to updated data has a direct impact on her work. She is unable to conduct due diligence and audits for her clients efficiently. The audit process during fundraising or other transactions is not happening as smoothly as it should be. Tyarla stated that when they pull data from MCA21, it is authenticated. However, when they approach a company directly, there is no way to verify the accuracy of the data. As a result, they have been providing disclaimers stating that the data has not been authenticated from MCA21 filings. This situation further adds to the challenges faced by professionals and raises concerns about the reliability of financial information.
These problems with the MCA21 portal have been persistent for a year now. The issues initially arose when MCA and LTIMindtree introduced a new version of the portal called Version 3 (or V3). Initially, this new version was only operational for limited liability partnership companies. However, it was later opened up for all firms earlier this year.
According to Jigar Shah, a company secretary, the new MCA portal version does not allow public inspection of documents. The responsibility to make documents available lies with the registrar of companies. Unfortunately, only the filings made under the previous version (V2) are accessible. This limitation affects clients such as banks and foreign investors who require authenticated financial information for their decision-making process. To access historical data from approximately a year ago, Shah and his colleagues have to use their V2 login credentials.
Despite raising complaints about these issues, there has been no resolution. LTIMindtree, the company responsible for maintaining the MCA21 portal, has not responded to queries regarding the problems.
The Times of India (TOI) has been reporting on the difficulties users have faced in filing mandatory corporate forms for months. While the finance ministry assures companies that these glitches will be resolved, there has been little improvement. To address the issue, the corporate affairs ministry has begun conducting meetings with stakeholders such as chartered accountants, company secretaries, and LTIMindtree.
Read More: [https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/corp-filing-sites-glitches-hit-due-diligence-market-analytics/articleshow/101175451.cms](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/corp-filing-sites-glitches-hit-due-diligence-market-analytics/articleshow/101175451.cms)
