In last 5 years, 462 cos faced Corporate Affairs min probes for alleged frauds

New Delhi: As many as 462 companies came under the lens of the corporate affairs ministry’s regional directors for suspected frauds in the last five financial years, according to official data.

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) takes action against frauds as defined under the Companies Act, 2013.

Investigation in matter of frauds are assigned to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) and Regional Directors (RDs) under Section 212 and 210 of the Companies Act, respectively.

Data on companies under investigation by the RDs and cases probed by SFIO were shared by the ministry with Lok Sabha as part of a written reply on Monday.

While 462 companies came under the investigation of RDs, the count of cases probed by SFIO stood at 72 in the five financial years starting from 2019-20. A total of 51 companies were under probe of RDs in 2023-24 while the count stood at 205 in 2022-23 and at 39 in 2021-22.

RDs probed 65 companies and 102 companies in 2020-21 and 2019-20, respectively.

Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Harsh Malhotra in the written reply said

there is no such verified information regarding an increase in the number of corporate fraud cases in the last five years have been noticed by the ministry. The reply was to a query on whether the government is aware that the cases of corporate fraud have increased in the country during the last five years.