India Registers 1.85 Lakh Companies in FY24: Corporate Affairs Ministry

New Delhi, May 5 (PTI) More than 1.85 lakh companies were registered in the country last fiscal, higher than the count recorded in the year-ago period, and nearly 16,600 companies were set up in March this year, according to official data.

As per the data, 1,59,524 companies were registered with a collective paid up capital of Rs 18,132.16 crore in 2022-23.

At the end of March 2024, the country had a total number of 26,63,016 companies and out of them, 16,91,495 companies or 64 per cent were active.

As many as 9,31,644 registered companies were closed, 2,470 were dormant entities and 10,385 companies were under liquidation.

A total of 27,022 companies were under the process of being struck off from official records.

During FY 2023-24, a total of 1,85,312 companies were registered with a collective paid up capital of Rs 30,927.40 crore, according to the corporate affairs ministry's information bulletin for March.

Out of them, 71 per cent were in the services sector, followed by 23 per cent in the industrial segment and 6 per cent in agriculture.

"Broader economic activity-wise classification reveals that community, personal and social services observed the highest rise of 11 per cent in the service sector as compared with FY 2022-23," it said.

The ministry is implementing the Companies Act, 2013.

In terms of states, 17.6 per cent of the new companies were set up in Maharashtra in 2023-24.

"There is an increase of 0.10 per cent in the total proportion of active companies w.r.t registered companies when compared to February 2024," the bulletin said.

As on March 31, 2024, there were a total of 5,164 foreign companies registered in the country and out of them, 3,288 companies or 64 per cent were active.

In March, the bulletin said 42,041 Director Identification Numbers were registered.

"Out of the total number of directors registered in India in March 2024, 67 per cent were male and the remaining 33 per cent were female... 43 per cent of newly registered directors belong to the age group of 31-45 years.

"Furthermore, 7 per cent of the new director registrations were older than 60 years," the bulletin said.