COMMENTARY
INTERVIEWS
SPECIALS
CHAT
ARCHIVES

Maharashtra at the top with 21.4 per cent of new units

More new public limited companies were registered in Maharashtra than any other Indian state during April 1997 and February 1998.

The state accounted for 21.4 per cent of the 31,242 new companies and 23.8 per cent of the aggregate authorised capital of Rs 94.83 billion. The firms were registered under the Companies Act.

According to a report released by the ministry of company affairs, Delhi stood second with 19.6 per cent of the companies registered and 15.7 per cent of authorised capital. West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat accounted for 9.2, 8.3, 6.9 and 5.5 per cent of the companies registered.

Of the firms registered, 12 were government and 31,230 were non-government companies with authorised capital of Rs 1.38 billion and Rs 93.45 billion respectively. Two non-government companies with unlimited liability and 66 companies with limited liability by guarantee were also registered during the year.

The annual report says that 4,81,904 companies limited by shares with an estimated aggregate paid-up capital of Rs 2,010.40 billion were at work in the country as on February 28, 1998.

The state-wise distribution shows that Maharashtra accounted for 21.5 per cent of the companies at work and 19.1 per cent of the total paid-up capital. Delhi accounted for 18.2 per cent of the companies at work and 26.8 per cent of the aggregate paid-up capital.

As for West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, the share was 13.8 per cent, 8.7 per cent, 6.7 per cent and 5.8 per cent respectively.

In addition to the companies limited by shares, there are 421 companies with unlimited liability. All these companies were private companies. While 286 of these companies were engaged in investment activity and 63 in trading, the remaining 72 were engaged in other activities. As many as 162 of these companies were registered in the state of Maharashtra, 104 in Delhi, 62 in Gujarat, 33 in Goa and the remaining in other cities, the report added.

As many as 871 foreign companies, as defined under Section 591 of the Companies Act, were at work in the country as on February 28, 1998.

Ninety-nine foreign companies established their business in India between April 1997 and February, 1998, the report added.

UNI