One Person Company India

Section 2(62) of the companies Act, 2013

Definition: One Person Company means a company which has only one person as a member;

Section 2(68) of the companies Act, 2013

Private company means a company having a paid-up share capital and which by its articles,—

(i)      restricts the right to transfer its shares;

(ii)    except in case of One Person Company, limits the number of its members to two hundred;

Provided that, where two or more persons hold one or more shares in a company jointly,  they shall, for the purposes of this clause, be treated as a single member.

Provided further that—

(A) persons who are in the employment of the company; and

(B) persons who, having been formerly in the employment of the company, were members of the company while in that employment and have continued to be members after the employment ceased, shall not be included in the number of members; and

(iii)   prohibits any invitation to the public to subscribe for any securities of the company.

Section 2(40) of the companies Act, 2013

Financial Statement in relation to a company, includes

A Balance Sheet as at the end of the financial year;

A Profit and Loss account, or in the case of a company carrying on any activity not for profit, an Income and Expenditure account for the financial year;

Cash Flow Statement for the financial year;

A Statement of changes in Equity, if applicable; and

Any explanatory note annexed to, or forming part of, any document referred to in sub-clause (i) to sub-clause (iv).

Provided that, the financial statements with respect to One Person Company, small company and dormant company, may not include the cash flow statement.

Section 3, Companies Act, 2013 – Formation of Company.

3. (1) A company may be formed for any lawful purpose by—

(a) Seven or more persons, where the company to be formed is to be a public company;

(b) Two or more persons, where the company to be formed is to be a private company; or

(c) One person, where the company to be formed is to be One Person Company that is to say, a private company,

by subscribing their names or his/her name to a memorandum and complying with the requirements of this Act in respect of registration.

Provided that, the memorandum of One Person Company shall indicate the name of the other person, with his prior written consent in the prescribed form, who shall, in the event of the subscriber’s death or his incapacity to contract become the member of the company and the written consent of such person shall also be filed with the Registrar at the time of incorporation of the One Person Company along with its memorandum and articles.

Provided further that, such other person may withdraw his consent in such manner as may be prescribed:

Provided also that, the member of One Person Company may at any time change the name of such other person by giving notice in such manner as may be prescribed:

Provided also that, it shall be the duty of the member of One Person Company to intimate the company the change, if any, in the name of the other person nominated by him by indicating in the memorandum or otherwise within such time and in such manner as may be prescribed, and the company shall intimate the Registrar any such change within such time and in such manner as may be prescribed:

Provided also that, any such change in the name of the person shall not be deemed to be an alteration of the memorandum.

(2) A company formed under sub-section (1) may be either—

(a) a company limited by shares; or

(b) a company limited by guarantee; or

(c) an unlimited company.

Section – 4, Companies Act, 2013 – Memorandum

Section 4 of the Act lays down about, what shall be included in the Memorandum of a Company. Apart from all the other mandatory inclusions in the Memorandum, One Person Company also has to state the name of the member of the Company who, in the event of death of the member shall become the member of the Company.

Section – 12, Companies Act, 2013 – Name

Provided further that, the words “One Person Company” shall be mentioned in brackets below the name of such company, wherever its name is printed, affixed or engraved.

Section – 92, Companies Act, 2013 – Annual Returns

Provided that, in relation to One Person Company and small company, the annual returns shall be signed by the company secretary, or where there is no company secretary, by the director of the company.

Section – 122, Companies Act, 2013 – Holding annual General Meetings

(1) The provisions of section 98 and sections 100 to 111 (both inclusive) shall not apply to a One Person Company.

(2) The ordinary businesses as mentioned under clause (a) of sub-section (2) of section 102 which a company, other than a One Person Company, is required to transact at its annual general meeting, shall be transacted, in case of One Person Company, as provided in sub-section.

(3) For the purposes of section 114, any business which is required to be transacted at an annual general meeting or other general meeting of a company by means of an ordinary or special resolution, it shall be sufficient if, in case of One Person Company, the resolution is communicated by the member to the company and entered in the minutes – book required to be maintained under section 118 and signed and dated by the member and such date shall be deemed to be the date of the meeting for all the purposes under this Act.

(4) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Act, where there is only one director on the Board of Director of a One Person Company, any business which is required to be transacted at the meeting of the Board of Directors of a company, it shall be sufficient if, in case of such One Person Company, the resolution by such director is entered in the minutes book required to be maintained under section 118 and signed and dated by such director and such date shall be deemed to be the date of the meeting of the Board of Directors for all the purposes under this Act.

Section – 148, Companies Act, 2013 – Company to have Board of Directors.

(1) Every company shall have Board of Directors consisting of individuals as directors and shall have—

(a) a minimum number of three directors in the case of a public company, two directors in the case of a private company, and one director in the case of a One Person Company; and

(b) a maximum of fifteen directors.

Provided that, a company may appoint more than fifteen directors by passing a special resolution.

Section – 152, Companies Act, 2013 – Appointment of Directors

(1)  Where no provision is made in the articles of a company for the appointment of the first director, the subscribers to the memorandum who are individuals shall be deemed to be the first directors of the company until the directors are duly appointed and in case of a One Person Company an individual being member shall be deemed to be its first director until the director or directors are duly appointed by the member in accordance with the provisions of this section.

Section – 173, Companies Act, 2013 – Meetings of Board

(5) A One Person Company, small company and dormant company shall be deemed to have complied with the provisions of this section if at least, one meeting of the Board of Directors has been conducted in each half of a calendar year and the gap between the two meetings is not less than ninety days.

Provided that, nothing contained in this sub-section and in section 174 shall apply to One Person Company in which there is only one director on its Board of Directors.

Section – 134, Companies Act, 2013 – Financial statement, Board’s report, etc

(1)    The financial statement, including consolidated financial statement, if any, shall be approved by the Board of Directors before they are signed on behalf of the Board at least by the chairperson of the company where he is authorized by the Board or by two directors out of which one shall be managing director and the Chief Executive Officer, if he is a director in the company, the Chief Financial Officer and the company secretary of the company, wherever they are appointed, or in the case of a One Person Company, only by one director, for submission to the auditor for his report thereon.

(4)    The report of the Board of Directors to be attached to the financial statement under this section shall, in case of a One Person Company, mean a report containing explanations or comments by the Board on every qualification, reservation or adverse remark or disclaimer made by the auditor in his report.

Section – 137, Companies Act, 2013 –Copy of financial statement to be filed with Registrar

(1)   A copy of the financial statements, including consolidated financial statement, if any, along with all the documents which are required to be or attached to such financial statements under this Act, duly adopted at the annual general meeting of the company, shall be filed with the Registrar within thirty days of the date of annual general meeting in such manner, with such fees or additional fees as may be prescribed within the time specified under section 403.

Provided also that, a One Person Company shall file a copy of the financial statements duly adopted by its member, along with all the documents which are required to be attached to such financial statements, within one hundred eighty days from the closure of the financial year.

Section – 193, Companies Act, 2013 – Contract by One Person Company .

(1) Where One Person Company limited by shares or by guarantee enters into a contract with the sole member of the company who is also the director of the company, the company shall, unless the contract is in writing, ensure that the terms of the contract or offer are contained in a memorandum or are recorded in the minutes of the first meeting of the Board of Directors of the company held next after entering into contract.

Provided that, nothing in this sub-section shall apply to contracts entered into by the company in the ordinary course of its business.

(2) The company shall inform the Registrar about every contract entered into by the company and recorded in the minutes of the meeting of its Board of Directors under sub-section (1) within a period of fifteen days of the date of approval by the Board of Directors.

Rule – 3, COMPANIES (INCORPORATION) RULES, 2014

One Person Company

3. (1) Only a natural person who is an Indian citizen and resident in India—

(a) Shall be eligible to incorporate a One Person Company;

(b) Shall be a nominee for the sole member of a One Person Company.

Explanation.—For the purposes of this rule, the term “resident in India” means a person who has stayed in India for a period of not less than one hundred and eighty two days during the immediately preceding one calendar year.

(2) No person shall be eligible to incorporate more than a One Person Company or become nominee in more than one such company.

(3) Where a natural person, being member in One Person Company in accordance with this rule becomes a member in another such Company by virtue of his being a nominee in that One Person Company, such person shall meet the eligibility criteria specified in sub rule (2) within a period of 180 days.

(4) No minor shall become member or nominee of the One Person Company or can hold share with beneficial interest.

(5) Such Company cannot be incorporated or converted into a company under section 8 of the Act.

(6) Such Company cannot carry out Non-Banking Financial Investment activities including investment in securities of anybody corporates.

(7) No such company can convert voluntarily into any kind of company unless two years have expired from the date of incorporation of One Person Company, except threshold limit (paid up share capital) is increased beyond fifty lakh rupees or its average annual turnover during the relevant period exceeds two crore rupees.