SIGNIFICANT BENEFICIAL OWNERSHIP RULES AMENDED (India)

Background
On 14 June 2018, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (“MCA”) had introduced the Companies (Significant Beneficial Owners) Rules, 2018 (“SBO Rules”) requiring the ultimate owners of beneficial interest in Indian companies to disclose such interest. NO&T’s Asia Legal Review No. 3 had covered the scope of the SBO Rules in detail. The SBO Rules were ambiguous and unclear on several issues including the scope of disclosure, disclosure requirements in case of structures with multiple levels of intermediate corporate shareholding etc. Based on representations from various stakeholders, compliance requirements under the SBO Rules were suspended pending further clarifications/amendments from the MCA.

Finally, on 8 February 2019, the MCA released the Companies (Significant Beneficial Owners) Amendment Rules, 2019 (“New SBO Rules”) to revise and significantly amend the SBO Rules. The New SBO Rules have once again kick-started the process of requiring significant beneficial owners to report and disclose their interests.

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