Number of new companies registered in the country have more than halved to 21,260, during the first five months of 2014-15 compared to preceding year, with the new Companies Act putting in place safeguards against floating shell firms.
As many as 43,601 companies had got registered during April-August period of the last financial year.
According to Minister of Corporate Affairs Arun Jaitley, the decline in registration of companies in the current fiscal was not due to compliance issues under the Companies Act 2013.
"There is no evidence or feedback suggesting that the decline is in any way attributable to 'tedious compliance' entailed by the new (Companies) Act," the Minister said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday.
However, it is a fact that the provisions of Companies Act, 2013 have safeguards against floating 'shell companies'," the Minister added.
Further, he said that the drop in number of registrations "is also attributable to introduction of new e-forms and time taken by professionals to become familiar with such forms".
He said the Ministry has set up an expert committee with an aim to review e-Forms, suggest changes aimed at simplifications of such forms and removal of difficulties faced by stakeholders.
Month-wise, April witnessed the least number (765) of company registrations.