Major Enhancements Proposed for MCA Lot-3 Forms to be Announced: Know All Details Here
MCA21 Version 3.0: Detailed Rollout of Enhanced Lot-3 Company Forms from July 14, 2025
In a major move toward modernizing corporate compliance in India, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) is set to launch the third set of upgraded statutory forms under the MCA21 Version 3.0 initiative. This roll-out, scheduled for July 14, 2025, includes 38 company-related forms covering a wide spectrum of compliance requirements such as annual filings, audit and cost audit submissions, legacy forms from the Companies Act, 1956, and other statutory obligations.
The Lot-3 release is aimed at easing the compliance burden on companies by introducing digitized, web-based forms supported by enhanced validations, integrated linked filings, offline submission utilities, and streamlined data entry mechanisms. This marks a significant step in the government’s commitment to ease of doing business through digital transformation.
A total of 38 forms are part of this rollout: 13 are for annual filings, 6 relate to audit and cost audit, 7 are categorized under "other forms," and 12 are from the 1956 Act. Most of these forms are now made available in web-based formats with an optional offline Excel utility. Key annual filing forms such as AOC-4, MGT-7, AOC-4 CFS, and CSR-2 have been significantly restructured for greater usability and compliance accuracy.
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The AOC-4 form, used for filing financial statements, now supports both online and offline submissions. Several attachments like AOC-1 (subsidiary details), AOC-2 (related party disclosures), the Director’s Report, and CSR details have been removed as separate documents. Instead, these are now filed as linked web forms. Users must also submit Extract of Board’s Report and Extract of Auditor’s Report (Standalone) as part of a linked filing. AOC-4 also features auto-population of prior year data, editable fields with change reason disclosures, and provisions for use by companies undergoing liquidation or insolvency.
The AOC-4 CFS form, meant for consolidated financial statements, mirrors the enhancements in AOC-4. If filed independently (applicable only to earlier V2 filings), it still requires linked submission of Extract of Auditor’s Report (Consolidated). If filed as part of a linked package in V3, all relevant forms must be submitted simultaneously. This ensures consistency of data and reduces redundancy.
Similarly, the AOC-4 NBFC and AOC-4 NBFC CFS forms have been upgraded for Non-Banking Financial Companies. These forms also include linked filings and omit the need for separate attachments. A new offline Excel-based utility allows data to be filled in a downloadable template, which is then uploaded in the web form. Features such as auto-filled data, editable prior-year values, GNL-1 SRN capture, and secretarial audit remarks have been incorporated.
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The AOC-4 XBRL form, used for filing XBRL-format financial statements, now requires linked filing of CSR-2 from FY 2024-25 onward. CSR applicability questions have been added to streamline this validation. Companies under CIRP or liquidation are allowed to file, and financial statements must now be uploaded with digital signatures of IRP/RP/Liquidators.
The CSR-2 form itself can be independently filed only for financial years from 2020-21 to 2023-24. From FY 2024-25, it must be submitted as a linked form with AOC-4, AOC-4 NBFC, or AOC-4XBRL. The form includes extensive Excel templates to record project details and CSR activities.
Other newly mandated linked forms include AOC-1, AOC-2, Extracts of Board and Auditor Reports. These cannot be filed independently and are triggered based on selections made in the parent AOC-4 or NBFC forms. For example, AOC-1 becomes mandatory if a company reports having subsidiaries or joint ventures.
MGT-7 and MGT-7A, which are annual return forms, have also seen significant upgrades. Templates for shareholder and debenture holder lists are now standardized, with a file upload limit of 300 MB. Gender-wise shareholder information and photographs of the registered office must be attached. MGT-8 has been eliminated as a separate attachment, with its key information fields now embedded in the main form.
In the audit and cost audit category, forms such as ADT-1 to ADT-4, and CRA-2 and CRA-4, have been digitized and optimized. ADT-1 now checks whether the appointed auditor holds more than 20 company assignments and includes fields for tribunal appointments via INC-28. CRA-2 includes new dropdowns and bifurcated sections based on appointment nature. CRA-4 allows cost audit report submission with prefilled previous-year data and compliance checks under Chapter IX.
The “Other Forms” category includes CRL-1, MGT-15, GNL-1, CSR-1, INC-22A, Complaint Form, and LEAP-1. Each of these has been made web-based, and in most cases, enhanced with new field validations, updated declaration formats, and support for CIRP and liquidation signatories. For example, the Complaint Form now merges regular and serious investor complaints into a single interface with refined dropdowns.
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In terms of file size, the limit for attachments in key forms like AOC-4, NBFC variants, and XBRL filings has been increased to 10 MB in total, with individual attachment limits removed. For MGT-7 and MGT-7A, Excel attachments can now be up to 300 MB split across 15 files.
The forms now follow a “linked filing” logic. For instance, if a company selects “Yes” for having related party transactions or consolidated financials, it triggers a mandatory filing of AOC-2 or AOC-4 CFS and their respective extract reports. CSR-2 is similarly linked based on CSR applicability from FY 2024-25.
To support this transition, MCA has provided a structured approach for migrating users from MCA21 V2 to V3. If a user has created a new ID in V3 and also holds a V2 ID, they can merge these profiles to consolidate all Service Request Numbers (SRNs). The system ensures a seamless carry-over of filing history and identity validation without requiring re-submission.
In conclusion, the Lot-3 implementation under MCA21 Version 3.0 represents a significant leap in India’s corporate regulatory infrastructure. By reducing dependency on attachments, introducing linked compliance flows, enhancing field validations, and offering offline submission tools, the system offers a smarter, streamlined, and error-minimized user experience. The changes are expected to not only improve compliance rates but also significantly reduce the time and cost of statutory filings for Indian companies.
The go-live date of July 14, 2025, marks a crucial milestone in India’s corporate digitization journey, with more such upgrades expected in future phases of the MCA21 program.
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