Digital signatures to be made mandatory

Kolkata, Aug 05: Digital signatures in company declarations to Registrar of Companies (RoC) would be made mandatory from September 15, Company Affairs Ministry's regional Director (Eastern region) U C Nahata said today.

Around 7.5 lakh companies are registered with the RoC. So far three lakh companies have received digital signature chips from the certifying authorities -- Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), MTNL and an unit of Satyam among others, Nahata told reporters here.

Around 500 certified filing centres (CFCs) manned by either a chartered accountant, cost accountant or a company secretary have been granted permission throughout the country, he added.

Meanwhile, the company affairs department has scanned five crore documents relating to information of companies registered with the RoC. The balance sheet and annual accounts of the last two years have been scanned, he said.

The government has also notified the e-forms to be downloaded for filing online declarations. The payments to RoC have to be made through Banks, credit cards and electronic transfer through Banks.

UNI