Persistent glitches on the MCA-21 V3 portal are delaying statutory filings, company incorporation, board appointments and access to funds, according to reports from Business Standard. The Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) has cited frequent downtime, slow responses, automatic logouts, pre-fill and retrieval errors, Digital Signature Certificate (DSC) association problems and validation failures in representations to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. The problems affect not just annual filings but other statutory e-forms under the Companies Act, 2013, and the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008. Developed and maintained by LTIMindtree, the V3 portal serves more than two million registered companies and limited liability partnerships (LLPs). As per Business Standard, queries sent to the MCA and LTIMindtree remained unanswered till the time of going to press. ICSI president Pawan G Chandak noted that technical issues could prevent otherwise compliant entities from meeting filing timelines.
The surge in company strike-offs coincides with the MCA's Companies Compliance Facilitation Scheme (CCFS) that ran from April 15 to September 15, offering steep concessions on pending compliance fees. The scheme allowed companies to clear pending filings by paying only 10 per cent of accumulated additional fees and reduced closure application fees to 25 per cent of normal charges. By July 13, about 92,859 companies had availed of the scheme, and 11,829 had applied to be struck off, according to ministry data. Strike-off numbers remained near 1,700 a month in April and May and bumped up to 3,797 in August and 4,933 in September, with 4,351 companies struck off in October even after the scheme closed. Rishi Agrawal noted that late fees of ₹100 per day per form with no upper cap accumulated over years, making many founders choose to let companies sit dormant.
The technical issues can create significant operational challenges for companies. As reported by Business Standard, glitches can restrict access to funds, with companies raising money through private placement unable to use proceeds until they allot shares to investors and file Form PAS-3 with the MCA. Anupriya Saxena noted that validation errors and upload failures had prevented companies from submitting PAS-3 despite repeated attempts, leaving funds unavailable for use. The problems can also affect companies from the incorporation stage, with portal glitches preventing applicants from editing, downloading or uploading forms, and forcing fresh submissions with application fees. More than 660,000 companies, or over a third of those required to do so, did not file their financial statements for 2024-25, up from 22.9 per cent in 2020-21, according to ministry data.
One-time password (OTP) failures during director verification have delayed board appointments, including investor-nominated directors, according to reports from Business Standard. Some appointments have been held up for weeks or months because OTPs were not received and profile registration remained incomplete. Applications by some companies to increase their authorised share capital through Form SH-7 remained pending because payments made through Bharatkosh were not getting linked to the MCA portal, even after stamp duty had been paid. These problems were flagged by the ICSI in a February 2023 representation and most figure in its latest representation dated October 28, 2026.
Since 2022, the ICSI has publicly flagged glitches at least 16 times, as reported by Business Standard. Company secretaries are calling for reliable portal infrastructure and transparent mechanisms to report technical failures. Jigar Shah noted that the extension reflected the difficulties with the portal, stating that when annual general meetings are conducted by September, company secretaries should be able to file forms within 30 to 60 days. Anupriya Saxena called for reliable portal infrastructure and a transparent mechanism to report technical failures, preserve evidence of attempted filings and obtain regulatory assistance when statutory filings cannot be completed for reasons beyond a firm's control. Rishi Agrawal called for simplified filings for dormant years and a cap on penalties once a company declares itself inactive, while Shah sought a permanent, affordable exit route with proportionate compliance requirements, predictable timelines and transparent fees.
