Investments of company to be held in its own name (Section 187 of the Companies Act, 2013) :
Section 187 of the Companies Act, 2013 which came into force from 1st April, 2014 provides for Investments of company to be held in its own name. According to this section:
(i) All investments made or held by a company in any property, security or other asset shall be made and held by it in its own name:
However, the company may hold any shares in its subsidiary company in the name of any nominee or nominees of the company, if it is necessary to do so, to ensure that the number of members of the subsidiary company is not reduced below the statutory limit.
(ii) Nothing in this section shall be deemed to prevent a company—
(a) from depositing with a bank, being the bankers of the company, any shares or securities for the collection of any dividend or interest payable thereon; or
(b) from depositing with, or transferring to, or holding in the name of, the State Bank of India or a scheduled bank, being the bankers of the company, shares or securities, in order to facilitate the transfer thereof:
Provided that if within a period of 6 months from the date on which the shares or securities are transferred by the company to, or are first held by the company in the name of, the State Bank of India or a scheduled bank as aforesaid, no transfer of such shares or securities takes place, the company shall, as soon as practicable after the expiry of that period, have the shares or securities re-transferred to it from the State Bank of India or the scheduled bank or, as the case may be, again hold the shares or securities in its own name; or
(c) from depositing with, or transferring to, any person any shares or securities, by way of security for the repayment of any loan advanced to the company or the performance of any obligation undertaken by it;
(d) from holding investments in the name of a depository when such investments are in the form of securities held by the company as a beneficial owner.
(iii) Where in pursuance of clause (d) of sub-section (ii), any shares or securities in which investments have been made by a company are not held by it in its own name, the company shall maintain a register which shall contain such particulars as may be prescribed and such register shall be open to inspection by any member or debenture – holder of the company without any charge during business hours subject to such reasonable restrictions as the company may by its articles or in general meeting impose.
(iv) If a company contravenes the provisions of this section, the company shall be punishable with fine which shall not be less than 25,000 rupees but which may extend to 25 lakh rupees and every officer of the company who is in default shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 6 months or with fine which shall not be less than 25,000 rupees but which may extend to 1 lakh rupees, or with both.
According to Rule 14 of the Companies (Meetings of Board and its Powers) Rules, 2014,
(a) Every company shall, from the date of its registration, maintain a register in Form MBP3 and enter therein, chronologically, the particulars of investments in shares or other securities beneficially held by the company but which are not held in its own name and the company shall also record the reasons for not holding the investments in its own name and the relationship or contract under which the investment is held in the name of any other person.
(b) The company shall also record whether such investments are held in a third party‘s name for the time being or otherwise.
(c) The register shall be maintained at the registered office of the company. The register shall be preserved permanently and shall be kept in the custody of the company secretary of the company or if there is no company secretary, any director or any other officer authorised by the Board for the purpose.
(d) The entries in the register shall be authenticated by the company secretary of the company or by any other person authorised by the Board for the purpose.