Company Strike-off (STK-2)

A company that has not commenced business within a year of incorporation, or has not carried on any business or operation for the two immediately preceding financial years, can apply to have its name removed from the register under section 248(2) of the Companies Act, 2013. It must first extinguish all its liabilities, and the application needs a special resolution or the consent of seventy-five per cent of its members in terms of paid-up share capital. The application is made in Form STK-2 to the Registrar at the Centre for Processing Accelerated Corporate Exit (C-PACE), with a fee of ₹10,000, under rule 4 of the Companies (Removal of Names of Companies from the Register of Companies) Rules, 2016.

STK-2 is accompanied by an indemnity bond from every director (STK-3), an affidavit from every director (STK-4), a statement of assets and liabilities made up to a date not more than 30 days before the application and certified by a Chartered Accountant, and a statement of any pending litigation. Before applying, the company must file its overdue financial statements and annual returns up to the end of the financial year in which it ceased business. Section 249 bars the application if, in the previous three months, the company changed its name or shifted its registered office to another State, disposed of property or rights for value, engaged in any other activity, or had a compromise or arrangement pending before the Tribunal.

Where the Registrar has already struck a company off and it needs to be brought back on the register, the route is different: an appeal or application before the National Company Law Tribunal under section 252. That process is covered on a separate page.