Only Govt firms can have ‘national’ in their names

Call this the National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) crisis effect.

The Corporate Affairs Ministry has directed the Registrar of Companies (RoC) to ensure that no company be registered with the word ‘national’ as part of its title unless it is a Government company.

This should be stringently enforced by all RoCs while registering companies, the Ministry said in a circular.

Similarly, the word ‘bank’ may be allowed in the name of an entity only when such entity produces a ‘No objection certificate’ from the Reserve Bank of India in this regard, the circular added.

By the same analogy, the word “stock exchange” or “exchange” should be allowed in name of a company only where ‘No Objection Certificate’ from SEBI in this regard is produced by the promoters, the circular said.

NSEL fallout

“This latest circular could be a fallout of the NSEL/National Bulk Handling Corporation saga.

“It should be read as a reiteration of the specific guidelines on name availability issued by the Corporate Affairs Ministry in July 2011,” SN Ananthasubramanian, Past President of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI), told Business Line.

Earlier directives

RoCs have in the past directed companies to obtain the approval of the Union Government before sanctioning such names, he added.