Hyderabad: Registration of corporate offices in Telangana and AP became tougher following bifurcation. While there are 70,000 registered offices in Telangana, it is about 20,000 in AP.
Most of the registered offices of corporate firms in the city are owned by managements from Seemandhra region. They want to set up registered offices in Seemandhra region to operate in AP following the bifurcation as they need to pay double taxes to both AP and T-state, if they operated from Hyderabad.
Similarly, some firms of Seemandhra region are willing to set up their registered offices in Telangana. In united states till June this year, it was easier for companies with head office in Hyderabad to set up offices anywhere in Seemandhra. However, with bifurcation, the states have changed, forcing the companies to follow longer procedure by filling an ‘e-Form 18’ as stipulated by ministry of corporate affairs. With this, only 129 firms in Telangana and 187 in Seemandhra could register their offices in AP and Telangana respectively.
Those who were aware of the procedural difficulties have set up their registered offices in Telangana and Seemandhra regions easily prior to the bifurcation. Those who failed to do so are now facing several hardships as shifting or setting up offices in other state involves a long procedural process.
Firm owners say the registration process has become cumbersome besides financially burdening small firms with paid-up capital of just Rs 1 lakh as they end up paying Rs 25,000 for it. “Firms with good business and high turnover can bear these expenses. However, those with paid-up capital of Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh cannot afford to spend Rs 25,000 just for registration of office. We are asked to take approval from board of directors, shareholders besides giving public notices in two newspapers. We request both the states and Centre to give special concessions to small and medium sector firms to shift their offices following bifurcation of state and consider this as a special case,” said Mr B.Arun Kumar, owner of an agri-business firm.
