India has over 15 lakh registered companies

The country has more than 15 lakh registered companies, but only 10.7 lakh of them were active at the end of 2015, according to the media report. Against the backdrop of the government working on ways to improve the ease of doing business, the total number of companies registered in the country went up to 15.19 lakh at the end of December last year. This is higher than 14.39 lakh companies registered at the end of December 2014, reported PTI. Latest data compiled by the Corporate Affairs Ministry show that there were over 15.19 lakh companies as on December 2015 but only 10.7 lakh were active. Among active companies, 10.63 lakh were limited by shares. Out of the total registered companies, more than 2.82 lakh have been shuttered while 1.39 lakh entities were inactive. As on December 2015, as many as 27,596 companies were in the process of being closed down. The Corporate Affairs Ministry is implementing the Companies Act, 2013 -- whose most provisions came into force in April 2014. After extensive consultations, a government-appointed high level panel earlier this month recommended a slew of amendments to the Act. The panel "endeavoured to reconcile the competing interests of the various stakeholders keeping in mind the difficulties and challenges expressed by them," the Ministry had said in a release. According to the release, the committee was also mindful of the government's objective of furthering ease of doing business, encouraging start-ups and the need for harmonising various laws.