Union Govt 'Has No Data' on Indians' Offshore Shell Companies – But Task Force Running Since 2017 https://thewire.in/government/union-govt-says-it-has-no-data-on-offshore-shell-companies-owned-by-indians MP Mahua Mitra pointed this out and said it was odd that the “government identified 238,223 shell companies between 2018 and 2021, without any specific definition in law.”
In its press release, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs had said that “there is no definition of the term “Shell Company” in the Companies Act and it normally refers to a company without active business operation or significant assets, which in some cases are used for illegal purpose such as tax evasion, money laundering, obscuring ownership, benami properties etc.”
In a written reply on March 21, 2023, the government said that “the data/details regarding offshore shell companies owned by Indian citizens is not available”, The Telegraph reported. “On whether it had acted to collect details of offshore shell companies whose “ultimate beneficial ownership” was held by Indian citizens, the government suggested the question of such action “does not arise” since “an offshore shell company is not defined in the acts administered by the ministry of finance”,” the newspaper stated.