Companies Significant Beneficial Owners Rules 2018 – MCA Notification

Companies Significant Beneficial Owners Rules 2018

MCA has notified Companies (Significant Beneficial Owners) Rules 2018.  The significant provisions of the Rules are as under:

Definition of significant beneficial owner:

A “significant beneficial owner” means an individual referred to in sub-section (1) of section 90 (holding ultimate beneficial interest of not less than ten per cent.) read with sub-section (10) of section 89, but whose name is not entered in the register of members of a company as the holder of such shares, and the term ‘significant beneficial ownership’ shall be construed accordingly;

The significant beneficial ownership, in case of persons other than individuals or natural persons, shall be determined as under:

(i) where the member is a company, the significant beneficial owner is the natural person, who, whether acting alone or together with other natural persons, or through one or more other persons or trusts, holds not less than ten per cent. share capital of the company or who exercises significant influence or control in the company through other means;

(ii) where the member is a partnership firm, the significant beneficial owner is the natural person, who, whether acting alone or together with other natural persons, or through one or more other persons or trusts, holds not less than ten per cent. of capital or has entitlement of not less than ten per cent. of profits of the partnership;

(iii) where no natural person is identified under (i) or (ii), the significant beneficial owner is the relevant natural person who holds the position of senior managing official;

(iv) where the member is a trust (through trustee), the identification of beneficial owner(s) shall include identification of the author of the trust, the trustee, the beneficiaries with not less than ten per cent. interest in the trust and any other natural person exercising ultimate effective control over the trust through a chain of control or ownership;

Declaration to be made by Significant Beneficial Owners:

As per the Rules, every significant beneficial owner shall file a declaration in Form No. BEN-1 to the company in which he holds the significant beneficial ownership on the date of commencement of these rules within ninety days from such commencement and within thirty days in case of any change in his significant beneficial ownership.

Every individual, who acquires significant beneficial ownership in a company after the commencement of these rules is shall file a declaration in Form No. BEN-1 to the company, within thirty days of acquiring such significant beneficial ownership or in case of any change in such ownership.

Return of significant beneficial owners in shares:

Where any declaration in Form No. BEN-1 is received by the company, it shall file a return in Form No. BEN-2 with the Registrar in respect of such declaration, within a period of thirty days from the date of receipt of declaration by it, along with the fees as prescribed in companies (Registration offices and fees) Rules, 2014.

Register of significant beneficial owners:

The company shall maintain a register of significant beneficial owners in Form No. BEN-3. The register shall be open for inspection during business hours, at such reasonable time of not less than two hours, on every working day as the board may decide, by any member of the company on payment of such fee as may be specified by the company but not exceeding fifty rupees for each inspection.

A company shall give notice seeking information in accordance with under sub-section (5) of section 90, in Form No. BEN-4.

These rules are not made applicable to the holding of shares of companies/body corporates, in case of pooled investment vehicles/investment funds such as Mutual Funds, Alterative Investment Funds (AIFs), Real Estate Investment Trusts(REITs) and Infrastructure Investment Trusts (lnvITs) regulated under SEBI Act.

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