Revive a Struck-Off Company: After Approval: What Continues
Revive a Struck-Off Company does not end at approval — a set of obligations continues afterwards. The questions below are the ones raised most often in practice; the full scope of the service is on the Revive a Struck-Off Company page.
How long does the entire NCLT restoration process take?
For a reasonably straightforward Section 252(3) case with a cooperative RoC response, the process — from petition filing to a fully restored and compliance-regularised company — has no fixed duration, as timelines depend on the case, the RoC response and the NCLT bench; confirm the current processing time. It includes NCLT registry processing, notice periods to the RoC and Regional Director, the hearing itself, order execution via Form INC-28, and post-restoration compliance filing. Complex cases, contested RoC objections, or a heavily booked NCLT bench can extend this considerably.
In practice: NCLT bench timelines vary considerably by jurisdiction and current case load — we give an indicative range after reviewing the file, rather than a best-case promise.
Is it always worth reviving a struck-off company, or is fresh incorporation sometimes better?
Not always. If the company has no significant assets, no ongoing contracts of value, and no compelling reason to preserve its specific legal identity, incorporating a new company is typically faster and cheaper (no historical compliance backlog to regularise). Restoration makes the most sense when the company holds assets that need to be accessed or distributed, has pending litigation that must continue in its name, has valuable licences or contracts tied to the specific entity, or where a creditor needs the entity restored to pursue recovery.
In practice: We tell clients honestly when fresh incorporation is the better commercial answer — we would rather lose a restoration engagement than have a client spend months and meaningful fees reviving a shell that serves no further purpose.
If the company had GST registration that was cancelled following the strike-off, what happens to GST compliance?
If GST registration was cancelled as a consequence of the company's strike-off (or due to the same non-filing that led to it), the company will typically need to apply for revocation of the GST cancellation (if within the permitted window under the CGST Act) or apply for a fresh GST registration once the company is restored and intends to resume operations. Any pending GST returns for the period before cancellation must also be filed. PNPC coordinates the GST workstream alongside the MCA restoration process.
In practice: GST and MCA restoration run on separate tracks with separate authorities and timelines — we manage both in parallel so the company is not left with a restored MCA status but a defunct GST registration that blocks actual trading.
What if the company's statutory auditor resigned or the auditor's term lapsed during the strike-off period?
The auditor's appointment (typically a 5-year term under the Companies (Amendment) Act 2017, which removed the earlier requirement of annual AGM ratification) may have lapsed or the auditor may have formally resigned during the period the company was inactive. Upon restoration, the company needs to appoint (or re-appoint) a statutory auditor and file Form ADT-1, so the pending financial statements for the backlog years can be properly audited and filed.
In practice: We coordinate the auditor appointment as one of the first post-restoration compliance steps, since the audited financial statements are a prerequisite for filing the backlog AOC-4 forms.
How does PNPC price this service — is it a fixed fee?
Given the wide variance in compliance backlog size, NCLT bench timelines, and case complexity, PNPC does not quote a single flat fee for company revival without first reviewing the company's specific filing history and the strike-off circumstances. After the initial diagnosis, we provide a written fee proposal covering the NCLT petition drafting and representation (in coordination with counsel), the compliance backlog regularisation, and post-restoration operational support — confirmed in writing before any engagement begins.
In practice: Scoping this accurately after seeing the actual filing gap is better than quoting a placeholder number that turns out to be wildly off once the real backlog is known — restoration cases genuinely vary that much case to case.
Why should I engage PNPC rather than a standalone NCLT litigation lawyer for this?
An NCLT litigation specialist can draft and argue the petition, but restoration success and post-order usability depend equally on the compliance side — accurately diagnosing the filing backlog, computing the true regularisation cost, coordinating auditor appointment, GST reactivation, bank account reactivation, and setting up the compliance calendar that prevents a repeat strike-off. PNPC brings both the CA compliance expertise and coordinates directly with NCLT counsel, so the legal petition and the underlying financial and compliance facts are always aligned — rather than the client having to manage two disconnected professionals.
In practice: A petition drafted without proper visibility into the company's actual compliance backlog can lead to conditions in the NCLT order that surprise the client. Integrating both workstreams from the outset reduces this risk.
Where this sits in the wider engagement
Revive a Struck-Off Company rarely arrives on its own. The statutory basis and the current requirements are set out on the Revive a Struck-Off Company service page, and the related services are grouped under Conversion Closure.
What PNPC does
PNPC Global has practised since 1986 across India and the UAE. On Revive a Struck-Off Company we take the work end to end — reviewing the facts, preparing and filing what is required, and dealing with the authority through to closure.