The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (“MCA”) has introduced various changes in the MCA21 portal over the years since 2006, in order to improve the compliance by companies and Limited Liability Partnerships (“LLPs”) and simplify the reporting process for the users, with the recent being the launch of version 3 of the MCA portal (“MCA21 V3”) on May 24, 2021.
The purpose of bringing forth MCA21 V3 is multifaceted, the first and foremost being the accomplishment of mission of the Government of India with respect to ease of doing business by aligning the portal with global trends, process reengineering and improved service delivery. MCA21 V3 offers harmonious integration and exchange of data with other regulatory authorities. It also enables research and analysis through structured Corporate Data Management.
MCA has enriched the user experience by introducing a responsive web design, effective categorization of content and e-consultation. MCA21 V3 has integrated the data to facilitate pre-population and auto-population through Artificial Intelligence-Machine Learning (“AI-ML”). The use of AI-ML has fortified the compliance with its analytical abilities, auto pilot surveillance and compliance management system (“CMS”). CMS aids MCA in detecting the non-compliant companies/ LLPs, issuing e-notices to such companies/ LLPs and generating alerts for internal users of MCA.
MCA21 V3 contains features such as e-book, e-consultation, web-based forms, module cards to group primary services for quick accessibility, dark mode for ease of viewing in low light and advanced search and filter option for concentrated search.
For automation of the MCA portal, the MCA21 V3 will have a help desk with cognitive chat bot and mobile app that will be introduced later. It will also provide the facility of e-adjudication to manage the increasing volume of adjudication proceedings by the Registrar of Companies and Regional Directors and facilitate end to end digitization of the process of adjudication for user convenience. It will provide an online platform for conducting hearings with stakeholders and end to end adjudication electronically.
MCA had proposed to launch the MCA21 V3 in phases instead making it a one-shot exercise so that there is no disruption in the regulatory compliances. Phase 1 included the website redesigning, updation of e-book module, introduction of e-consultation platform and e-mail services. Phase 2 consisted of migration of LLP module to MCA21 V3 wherein the e-forms pertaining to the LLPs were made web-based, introduction of CMS, Official Liquidator module, reports and dashboard.
The part 1 of phase 3 was rolled out on August 31, 2022. 9 web-based forms related to the company module were launched wherein web-based forms related to deposit, charges and director KYC were rolled out. The part 2 of phase 3 is expected to be launched in next 3 months after the completion of annual compliances of the current year.
The rolled-out phases of MCA21 V3 have strengthened the compliance management and seamlessly integrated the data exchange with other regulators and facilitated the users by providing them with responsive platform.
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