Elephantine labour!!!

Dear Friends

Have you ever played Snake & Ladder ? Can you recall the joy of casting the dice and getting started ? the thrill of climbing multiple ladders ? the disappointment of being bitten by a snake ? the frustration of being pushed back to the bottom of the board when you almost thought you had made it ? the double-joy of seeing someone lose ? The highs and lows of this simple game marked by unexpected twists and turns is what that makes it so exciting and enjoyable.

Now why am I talking of this byone era game in this digital times ?

Because we professionals are forced into playing this game day in and day out on the MCA (Ministry of Corporate Affairs) portal !! Read on…..

Did you know that the elephant has a gestation period longer than any living mammal ? 680 days of pregnancy which is believed to make them strong and intelligent.

Now, why am I talking of the pachyderm’s pregnancy ? Is it to mark World Environment Day on 5th June ? No. Because startup founders are getting impatient with the ‘oh-so-long-pregnant’ MCA which hasn’t been able to deliver their LLPs on time 😊

˙ʎɐp ɐƃoʎ ʎddɐɥ ˙ʍou ɐuɐsɹǝǝɥs ƃuᴉop ɯɐ I ˙ƃuᴉuɹoɯ pooפ 🙃

Now, why am I talking of this difficult inverted body pose (Shirasasana) ? Is it to celebrate World Yoga Day on 21st June or showcase our agility on PCS Day, 15th June? Neither.

Because even if we stand upside down as the last resort for beseeching MCA, it doesn’t seem to work ! You do need yogic patience and saintly qualities to tame your ‘rogue elephantisque temper’ and not get frustrated, servicing clients who seek simple service of setting up an LLP (:

Do you play Antyakshari (a game of songs) during office hours ?

Now why am I talking crazily out of my head ? Is it to enjoy World Music Day on 21st June ? Not at all.

Because music is the best stress-buster when you are caught in a helpless situation, unable to deliver the promised service due to technical glitches of a portal which routinely closes tickets, leaving the issue unresolved !!

Enough of ranting. Let me GET TO THE POINT ! Bound by our professional code of conduct, we cannot rave and rant like aam janata on social media about the LLP V3 portal of MCA. It doesn’t serve any purpose. We do believe that our alma mater ICSI is doing what best it can to get our grievances redressed by the MCA. However, I cannot stop myself from sharing the LLP-saga, penned as below by two of my young ‘unmarried colleagues’ (Rajeswari & Anjali) who are experiencing ‘birthing-pangs’ trying to incorporate LLPs since March, 2022 😊

“Patience is not the ability to wait but the ability to keep a good attitude while waiting.” -Joyce Meyer. The whole incorporation experience in the new regime will test your patience and will. In the month of March 2022, we got a proposal for incorporation of two Limited Liability Partnership (LLPs), which were to further set up an entity abroad (under ODI regulations) within a specific timeframe. Based on our previous experience, we advised the clients about the process, documents and timelines involved. Little did we know that the timeline for incorporation would get dragged from 2 weeks to 3 months solely on account of technical glitches.

Out of the 2 LLPs, one got incorporated without much hassle although there were prefill issues in the initial days. However, the second LLP was struck by a lightning of endless issues and was ultimately abandoned by the client.

16th March, 2022 – Application for reservation of name was filed. Challan was not getting generated. Status of SRN was appearing as ‘invalid SRN’.

24th March – Approval email received but no approval letter attached. Application history still showed the SRN status as ‘Under Processing’. Unable to proceed with the incorporation of LLP for 2 weeks.

7th April – issue resolved after escalation through multiple tickets and emails.

Strange problems continued – No options to select appropriate district for DIN of DPs. District prefilled based on PIN Code showed an error stating ‘enter alphanumeric values’.

Forms marked for resubmission even when the documents were in order. Unable to resubmit within time due to portal issues.

For days, tickets went unresolved or were simply closed as ‘resolved’ by technical team.

The entire team tried coming up with innovative ideas to tackle this frustrating situation. As the saying goes “Frustration is the fuel that can lead to the development of an innovative and useful idea.” – Marley Dias.

Convinced the client to start the incorporation process afresh. But besieged with fresh technical problems related to identity proofs of the DPs, SRN of previously filed FiLLiP form still open though the validity had expired.

Tried with innovative, alternative ID proofs but came back for resubmission, requiring something that was already attached.

Being a time sensitive matter due to the ODI aspects involved, clients finally decided to abandon the birthing of second LLP and alter the structure of existing LLP.

Again the V3 portal played spoil sport – due to the differences in the version of portal, a simple form for application for DIN could not be filed.

The last turn that we took was to incorporate a company and then using the same DIN, onboard the director as a DP in the existing LLP. This hasn’t helped much either – the LLP agreement cannot be amended now since the original one is still pending approval for more than 3 weeks ! Doesn’t it fell like a stone stuck in the neck of a bottle ?

It is like climbing a ladder one day but sliding down several on the next, bitten by the proverbial snake !!

I am sure thousands of professionals have similar saga to share. I wish and pray and hope that the trade bodies and industry chambers take up the matter with the government because it is not just filing some forms and setting up an entity. It is loss of productive hours, money, opportunities and credibility resulting in huge economic loss.