Special Economic Zones (Amendment) Bill, 2019

The Special Economic Zones (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was introduced in Lok Sabha by Mr. Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce and Industry on June 24, 2019. It was first legislation to be passed by newly- constituted 17^th Lok Sabha. It amends the Special Economic Zones Act, 2005 and replaces an Ordinance that was promulgated on March 2, 2019.  The Act provides for the establishment, development and management of Special Economic Zones for the promotion of exports.

Salient features of the Bill
The SEZ (Amendment) Bill 2019 replaced an ordinance of March 2019, which amended the SEZ Act of 2005 to add two new categories – “trusts or any entity, as may be notified by the Central Government” – among those eligible for setting up units in the notified SEZs. Under the Act, the definition of a person includes an individual, a Hindu undivided family, a company, a co-operative society, a firm, or an association of persons.  The Bill adds two more categories to this definition by including a trust, or any other entity which may be notified by the central government. Below mentioned are the salient features of the Bill:

1. Boost to investment and employment generation

The government had already received eight applications from trusts from reputed companies proposing a total investment potential of INR 8,000 crore. The natures of these trusts or the kind of economic activities they are involved in are not clear yet. Though the opposition was skeptical about the usefulness of the amendment, the SEZs had generated 20 lakh jobs, brought investments worth INR 5 lakh crore, with exports worth INR 7 lakh crore by the end of March 2019.

2. Legroom for a wide range of trusts

The Bill opens up the possibility for all types of trusts to operate from the SEZs – public charitable trusts, private trusts run by big and small corporate houses, business trusts like real estate investment trusts (REITs) and infrastructure investment trusts (InvITs), private companies with their own PF trusts and port trusts run by the government. These trusts run a wide range of activities ranging from health, education, skilling and other livelihood generation activities to manufacturing and financing.

3. Utilization of vacant land and non-operational SEZs

The amendment would also facilitate the use of the SEZ land lying vacant. According to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, 40 % of the notified SEZs are non-operational and more than 50 % of land notified for the SEZ use is lying vacant.

By allowing trusts to set up units in the SEZs, the unused land could be put to productive use now.

The SEZs have contributed significantly to the economy. SEZs are major export hubs in the country as the government provides several incentives and single-window clearance system. The developers and units of these zones enjoy certain fiscal and non-fiscal incentives such as no license requirement for import; full freedom for subcontracting; and no routine examination by customs authorities of export/import cargo. They also enjoy direct and indirect tax benefits.

If you are looking for assistance to setting up a SEZ unit in India as per your business requirements and wish to gather more information about compliances associated with it to refine your business strategies, our team of experts can assist you throughout the process.

We can also assist you in setting up your business in India, accounting, bookkeeping, payroll, auditing, taxation, secretarial compliances, and trademark registration, business structuring and advisory services. If you require any assistance in this regard, kindly click here

Annual corporate filings

According to the requirements of the Companies Act 2013 and other applicable laws, every company including subsidiaries of foreign companies, joint venture companies while incorporating business in India has to file certain documents with the government authorities. Following are the required documents along with the e-forms with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) with proper jurisdiction over the company:

• Balance Sheet: All companies have to file Form 23AC
• Profit and Loss account: All companies have to file Form 23ACA
• Annual Return: Companies with share capital have to file Form 20B
• Annual Return: Companies without share capital have to file Form 21A
• Compliance certificate: Companies with paid up capital between Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 2 crore have to file Form 66.

How to do corporate filings?
There are 3 ways for annual corporate filing which a company can follow:

• The most convenient way is that a company can upload the above listed e-forms from the MCA21 portal through the annual filing process link at his convenience from his office/ home.
• Prepare an e-form following the guidelines, copying them in a compact disk (“CD”) and visit nearest temporary facilitation offices. For normal days, staff will help to upload the form and generate a challan but during last 10 days, CDs will be collected and only acknowledgment will be provided. After all the files are being uploaded into the system, the company can download the challan from the link provided at the annual filing corner after 2 working days of the submission.
• Connecting with any certified filing centers by paying the service charges is also a method that a company representative can follow for filing an annual return.

What to remember while doing an annual filing?

• Balance Sheet and the Profit & Loss Accounts are to be filed as two separate documents with different e-forms.
• e-Form along with the relevant attachment should be less than 2.5 MB.
• The Annual Return, the balance sheet and the profit & loss account are filed as attachments to the respective e-Forms
• The MCA21 database in respect of authorized capital and paid-up capital may not be correct. The companies have been requested to apply for correction of master data in this respect. Since this is a time taking process, the ministry will be accepting the authorized capital and paid-up capital figures as declared by the companies in the respective forms pertaining to annual filings.

What are the mandates while annual filing?
As a part of annual filing in India, the below forms are mandatory to be filed with the RoC:

• Form AOC-4 (Financial Statements): Every private limited company is required to file its balance sheet along with profit and loss account statement and director report within 30 days of holding of annual general meeting.
• Form MGT-7 (Annual Return): Every private limited organization is required to file its annual return within 60 days of holding of annual general meeting.

If an organization results in failure to comply with the rules and regulations of the Companies Act, then the company and every officer who is in default shall be punishable with fine for the period which default continues. However, if there is any delay in filing, an additional fee is charged, which keeps increasing as per the time period of non-compliance. Moreover, some of the annual filing forms can also be revised but the fees for subsequently revised filing shall be charged, assuming it as a new filing.

If you are looking up for incorporating any business in India, you need to comply with the annual filing requirement to be filed also with the Roc irrespective of your turnover. Our experts can also provide you assistance for filing your personal income tax returns, corporate tax returns, income tax assessments and a quick response to income tax notices.
Further, we can assist you in setting up your business in India, accounting, bookkeeping, payroll, auditing, taxation, secretarial compliances, and trademark registration, business structuring and advisory services. If you require any assistance in this regard, kindly click here