What does an ROC search report record?
An ROC search report records what the Registrar of Companies already holds about a company, and about the charges on its assets. A bank usually asks for it before it lends. The report does not create the company, and it does not create the charge.
What is the report for?
The reader is usually a lender that wants to see the company’s name, identity number, registered office, capital, directors, members, and the securities already given to other lenders. A practising chartered accountant, company secretary, or cost accountant, or an advocate, prepares the report after inspecting the documents. The Act does not set a form, so two reports for the same company can be arranged differently. How a company is formed is on the private-company page.
Where do the facts come from?
The facts come from documents filed with the Registrar, inspected on the Ministry’s portal or at the Registrar’s office on payment of the prescribed fee. This page does not set that fee. The usual records are the certificate of incorporation, the memorandum, the articles, the annual returns, and the charge filings. The company’s own register of members is kept at the company. It is not a form that sits on the portal in place of the annual return. The annual return is Form MGT-7, or Form MGT-7A for a small company or a one person company.
What does the charge section say?
For each charge the report states the asset, the charge-holder, the date of creation, modification, or satisfaction, the charge identification number, and the amount secured. Creation and modification are filed with the Registrar. Satisfaction is filed when the debt is paid. The index of charges on the portal is the list those filings produce. A sanction letter, an interest rate, and a repayment schedule are the lender’s documents. They are not assumed to be on the portal because a charge form exists.
Frequently asked questions
Four questions cover the format, creation of a charge, sanction letters, and the annual return.
Is there a statutory format?
No. The Companies Act does not prescribe a search-report form. The contents follow what the bank, or another lender, has asked to see.
Does the report create the charge?
No. A charge is created by the company’s instrument and is registered with the Registrar. The report only records what those filings show.
Are the bank’s sanction letters on the MCA portal?
No. Sanction letters are the lender’s documents. The portal shows the charge forms and the certificates the company has filed.
Is a search report the company’s annual return?
No. The annual return is Form MGT-7 or MGT-7A. A search report is a professional’s reading of the public record, usually for a loan.
Sources
Inspection of documents filed with the Registrar is section 399 of the Companies Act, 2013. Registration of a charge is section 77. The annual return is a different filing.