MCA website lists Agora status as 'active'; contradicts Buch's claim

Experts suggest Chair may have used term loosely

The Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) master data reveals that Agora Advisory, a consultancy firm co-founded by Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch and her husband Dhaval Buch, is listed as “active”, contradicting Puri Buch’s claim that the company became dormant upon her Sebi appointment.

The data — accessed by Hindenburg Research — shows Agora generated Rs 2.54 crore in income between 2020-21 and 2023-24, although its last financial year’s income had dwindled to just Rs 14 lakh.

Puri Buch was first appointed Sebi whole-time member in April 2017. She demitted office in October 2021 and rejoined the securities regulator as chairperson in March 2022.

 

“A dormant company typically refers to a company with no active operations, although it may still have some passive income, such as from fixed deposits or royalties, which is not substantial. Under Section 455 of the Companies Act, a company can apply for dormant status to the MCA if it has no active business or operations and has not made significant accounting transactions,” explained Sameena Jahangir, partner at Kochhar & Co.

To be declared a “dormant” company by the Registrar of Companies, there are set criteria, including no considerable accounting transactions during the period of dormancy.

Experts believe the Sebi chairperson may have used the term “dormant” loosely and not as defined under the Companies Act. Her intention may have been to indicate that the company was not undertaking any active operations, they said.

“An inactive company can still generate revenues from past work — if payments are made in instalments or upon achieving certain targets. The company can also generate revenues from past investments or deposits. I don’t have the details, which only the Sebi chief can clarify,” said J N Gupta, former executive director at Sebi and founder of proxy advisory firm Stakeholders Empowerment Services.

Emailed queries sent to Sebi and the chairperson, separately, for more clarity on the issue, remained unanswered until the time of going to press.

The MCA website listed Dhaval as a director of Agora Advisory. Following the Sebi chief and her husband’s 15-point rebuttal to Hindenburg’s claims, the New York-based research firm once again posted on X that the Indian entity Agora was still 99 per cent owned by the Sebi chairperson and had generated revenue during 2021-22, 2022-23, and 2023-24 while she was serving as chairperson. It called for the release of the full list of consulting clients and details of engagements.