MCA Grant for Research Studies on Corporate Governance

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs implemented MCA-21 in 2006, making all its services available online and also allowing the companies to file the returns in digital format. Since then, the MCA-21 registry has turned out to be the most comprehensive source of the Indian Corporate sector data. Recently, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs decided to make the MCA-21 registry available for research studies in corporate governance and other connected topics. The Ministry has begun to invite the proposals for funding up to Rs.50 lakhs for research on various matters like the integration of the MCA-21 registry database with other databases, corporate governance index, etc. The present article highlights the guidelines provided for the said proposals.

Eligibility Criteria for Selection for the Project

The applicant should satisfy the following criteria for being eligible for the research studies:

The applicant should be an institution or organization or agency which is registered under the statues of the Central Government or State Government like Societies Act, Trust Act, Co-operative Act, etc.

However, even the individual person or the person retired from the institution or organization mentioned above, having a proven level of commitments and research expertise on the subject can also apply for the research.

Standing specification for the applicant-
1. The applicant should have distinctive merit and academic reputation in the research field.
2. The applicant should have been working in research or survey projects for at least three preceding years.
Expertise specification for the applicant-
1. The applicant should have expertise in designing research and statistical analysis for economic interpretation.
2. The applicant should have adequate hardware and tools for handling large scale data.
3. The applicant should be able to offer experts during the period of research or survey.

If the above criteria are satisfied, the eligible applicant’s proposal will be placed before the Expert Committee for final selection.

Subject and area to be covered for Research Studies

The project would cover the research study on the following areas:

To develop the procedure to integrate the MCA-21 registry database with the other database.
To evolve the corporate governance index.
To identify the gap involved in related party transactions like money laundering, willful default, and tax evasion.
To use the MCA-21 registry database to study the financial statements of the bankrupt firms.
To use AI tools and machine learning towards studying the insolvency forecast, financial stress in different sectors, etc.
To use XBRL.

Please note, the above list covering the subject is indicative.

Quantum of the Grant and Disbursement

Quantum of the grant:

Particulars	Grant per Project
In case the applicant is the institution or organization or agency.	Rs.50 Lakhs (inclusive of all the taxes)
In case the applicant is an Individual.	Rs.20 Lakhs (inclusive of all the taxes)

Disbursement of the Grant:

Installment	Disbursement Percentage	Disbursement period
1^st	30% of the project cost	Grant would be disbursed after issuance of sanction letter and receipt of acceptance letter from the grantee.
2^nd	50% of the project cost	Grant would be disbursed after receipt of the following: Preliminary draft report. An audited statement of accounts. Utilization certificate of the grant released. Report of the Expert Committee (if required)
3^rd	20% of the project cost	Grant would be disbursed after receipt of following- Final report of the research project. An audited statement of accounts. Utilization certificate of the grant released. The definite number of hard copies and soft copies of all the documents or data used and report.