According to the government, as of September this year, out of the 5,068 foreign companies registered in India, 3,291 foreign companies were active.

Minister of State for Enterprise Affairs Rao Inderjit Singh said Monday that information on the “cessation of operations” is not maintained by the Enterprise Affairs Ministry.

Foreign companies are required to register their “place of business” in India as well as the termination of their “place of business” in India with the Registrar of Companies, Delhi.

Citing data from the Registrar of Companies (RoC) in Delhi, Singh said 877 foreign companies gave up their “place of business” in India between 2014 and November 2021. He also said that Ford and Harley Davidson had not closed their Indian headquarters in India.

“There are 3,291 foreign companies with active status out of 5,068 foreign companies registered in India by September 2022,” the minister said in a written response.

In response to another question, he said that overall there was a significant improvement in the indicators related to the ease of doing business.

“According to the database maintained by the ministry, the number of incorporated companies has increased from 1,22,721 in 2019-20 to 1,67,076 in 2021-22 and 1,15,229 this year through November 2022,” he added.

In a separate written response, Singh said the ministry issued instructions in August this year to withdraw prosecutions against companies in certain cases that do not involve serious violations of the law.

As for whether such cases could include those seeking reimbursement of fees, fines or financial damages from the government, the minister said such cases are not included.