Two emergency reliefs issued in response to the MCA Data Centre fire alarm — June 5, 2026. A third scheme runs in parallel but predates the incident.
Fire Relief 1: DPT-3 extension per General Circular No. 02/2026 dated June 19, 2026.
Fire Relief 2: Name reservation & e-form resubmission relief per Memorandum No. EGov-04/2/2021-e-Gov-MCA.
Running in parallel (pre-existing): CCFS-2026 under General Circular No. 01/2026 — closes July 15, 2026.
What Happened — The Incident and Why It Matters
On June 5, 2026, a fire alarm at the MCA Data Centre site forced an unscheduled switchover to the Disaster Recovery (DR) facility. The result: several MCA21 services became inaccessible for a significant period. This was not a minor system hiccup — the outage struck precisely when filings were at their peak, with dozens of compliance deadlines clustered around the end of June.
As late as June 16, 2026, MCA acknowledged that services continued to experience slower-than-normal performance and unresolved technical issues. MCA further announced a scheduled maintenance window — services were fully unavailable from 10:00 PM on June 16 to 8:00 AM on June 17 — to carry out capacity augmentation activities. This was on top of the disruption already caused by the fire alarm incident.
The real-world impact on practitioners was severe: name reservations lapsed without being usable, e-forms could not be saved or resubmitted, companies awaiting incorporation were stuck, and accounts were locked out. The Institute of Company Secretaries of India responded by formally writing to MCA seeking relief, and MCA ultimately issued a package of three distinct, separately-scoped reliefs — which this article covers in full.
ICSI Wrote to MCA Seeking Relief — What Was Flagged
The Institute of Company Secretaries of India, through its President CS Pawan G. Chandak, wrote a formal representation to MCA seeking urgent relief following the data centre disruption. ICSI catalogued the on-the-ground problems reported by its members and students across India, and formally requested that MCA act to protect stakeholders from penalties and lapses caused by factors entirely outside their control.
- Frequent account lockouts on MCA21 preventing login
- Password reset functionality not working correctly
- Inability to resubmit e-forms already flagged by ROC for resubmission
- Delays in company incorporations because name reservations (RUN approvals) were expiring during the downtime
- Non-functional e-form saving and downloading features
- Continued portal instability even after the initial DR switchover
ICSI specifically requested MCA to extend name reservation validity, protect pending forms from automatic cancellation or rejection due to resubmission deadline lapses, and grant blanket extensions for all statutory filing and resubmission deadlines affected by the disruption. MCA responded — but the response came in pieces, with different reliefs issued at different times covering different items.
Relief 1 — DPT-3 Filing Extended to July 31, 2026
Source: General Circular No. 02/2026 | F. No. Policy-02/2/2020-CL-V-MCA | Dated: June 19, 2026
MCA issued General Circular No. 02/2026 on June 19, 2026 providing that companies may file Form DPT-3 — the Return of Deposits for the financial year ended March 31, 2026 — up to July 31, 2026, without attracting any additional fees. The original statutory due date for DPT-3 was June 30, 2026.
What DPT-3 Actually Covers — A Common Misconception
Many directors and even compliance officers incorrectly assume Form DPT-3 is only relevant if their company accepted deposits from the public. This is wrong. As clarified by MCA, DPT-3 is required to be filed for all outstanding amounts as on March 31, 2026 that qualify as deposits or are specifically exempted from the definition of "deposit" — including:
- Outstanding loans received from directors
- Outstanding loans from shareholders
- Borrowings from banks and financial institutions
- Amounts received from group companies / related parties
- Inter-corporate borrowings and deposits
In practice, most companies need to file DPT-3, not just those that took public deposits.
Exact Scope of the DPT-3 Relief
- Filing of Form DPT-3 for FY ended March 31, 2026
- No additional fees payable on filings made on or before July 31, 2026
- The extension is automatic — no application or Helpdesk ticket needed
- Normal fees apply; only the additional (late) fees are waived
- Filing after July 31, 2026 — additional fees will apply as per normal MCA rules
- The legal obligation to file DPT-3 remains unchanged — this is a fee waiver only
- Any other form or return beyond DPT-3 (separate reliefs apply for those)
Relief 2 — Name Reservations & E-Form Resubmissions Extended
Source: Memorandum No. EGov-04/2/2021-e-Gov-MCA, Comp. No. 185122 | Signed by: M. Harshavardhan Reddy, Deputy Director, MCA
A separate MCA Memorandum — bearing reference EGov-04/2/2021-e-Gov-MCA, Comp. No. 185122 — addresses the more urgent and operationally complex problem of name reservations that lapsed during the outage and e-forms that could not be resubmitted. This relief is bifurcated by date: the type of action required depends on whether the lapse occurred between June 5–20 or June 21–30, 2026.
Name Reservation Relief — Two Distinct Categories
Approved name reservations that expire between June 21 and June 30, 2026 are automatically extended to July 10, 2026. No action is required by the stakeholder — the system will reflect the extended validity.
For name reservations that had already expired between June 5 and June 20, 2026 (the initial disruption window), stakeholders must proactively request an extension by raising a ticket with the MCA Helpdesk on or before June 30, 2026. If approved, the extension will be granted up to July 10, 2026. All such requests are subject to case-by-case verification by MCA.
E-Form Resubmission Relief — Same Two-Category Logic
E-forms with resubmission deadlines falling between June 21 and June 30, 2026 are automatically extended until July 10, 2026. Stakeholders need not apply — the system will accommodate the revised deadline.
E-forms whose resubmission deadlines lapsed between June 5 and June 20, 2026 require a formal extension request through the MCA Helpdesk before June 30, 2026. Upon approval, such forms may be resubmitted until July 10, 2026. Requests are subject to case-by-case verification.
Cancelled E-Forms — Reopening Facility
E-forms that were cancelled by the system because of non-resubmission during the fire-affected period may be reopened upon request to MCA. Once reopened, they will be made available for resubmission up to July 10, 2026. This is significant relief for companies whose ROC-flagged forms were auto-cancelled during the outage days.
Stakeholders whose name reservations or e-form resubmission deadlines expired during June 5 to June 20, 2026 must raise their Helpdesk ticket on or before June 30, 2026. Missing this window means you fall outside the memorandum's relief scope. As today is June 28 — there are only two days left to act if you are in this category.
Relief 3 — CCFS-2026: Annual Filing Waiver Running in Parallel
Source: General Circular No. 01/2026 | Dated: February 24, 2026
Separately from the fire-related reliefs, the Companies Compliance Facilitation Scheme, 2026 (CCFS-2026) — originally launched on February 24, 2026 — is currently running and closes on July 15, 2026. This scheme is entirely independent of the data centre fire; it was announced earlier in the year as a general compliance facilitation measure targeting accumulated annual filing arrears across financial years, not just FY 2025-26.
- Form AOC-4 — Financial statements (annual)
- Form MGT-7 / MGT-7A — Annual return
- Form ADT-1 — Auditor appointment
- Fee benefit: Only 10% of the otherwise applicable additional fees is payable — a 90% reduction
- Window: Open until July 15, 2026
- Form DPT-3 — covered separately by General Circular No. 02/2026
- Name reservations or e-form resubmissions — covered by the MCA Memorandum
- Any form not explicitly listed in General Circular No. 01/2026
If your client has both a pending DPT-3 and overdue annual filings, you are managing two entirely separate relief regimes: July 15 for CCFS forms (AOC-4, MGT-7/7A, ADT-1) and July 31 for DPT-3. The fee concessions do not cross-apply — CCFS's 10%-of-additional-fee benefit does not extend to DPT-3, and the DPT-3 fee waiver does not cover annual return arrears. Track them separately and file them separately.
All Three Reliefs — Side-by-Side Comparison
Compliance Action Checklist for Professionals
If any name reservation or e-form resubmission deadline lapsed between June 5 and June 20, 2026, raise an MCA Helpdesk ticket immediately. If you miss June 30, you fall outside the memorandum's relief scope.
Check whether your approved RUN / SPICe name reservation is in Category A (expiry June 21–30 — auto-extended, no action needed) or Category B (expired June 5–20 — Helpdesk ticket required). Confirm on MCA21 portal.
Identify all e-forms flagged for resubmission by the ROC during the affected period. Category A (deadline June 21–30) is auto-extended to July 10 — no action needed. Category B (deadline June 5–20) requires a Helpdesk request before June 30, 2026. For e-forms that were cancelled due to non-resubmission during the outage period, raise a reopening request with the MCA Helpdesk also before June 30, 2026 — the same deadline applies.
If your clients have pending annual filings, CCFS-2026 allows clearance at only 10% of additional fees. This window closes July 15 — act now rather than waiting until the last day given likely portal traffic.
Assess every company for DPT-3 obligation — not just those that took public deposits. Directors' loans, shareholder loans, and inter-corporate borrowings outstanding on March 31, 2026 must all be captured. File by July 31 to avoid additional fees.
Screenshot all MCA Helpdesk ticket numbers, acknowledgement emails, and portal error messages. These serve as your documentation trail if MCA conducts case-by-case verification of relief claims or if any ROC query arises later.
What This Means for Professionals — Key Risks in the MCA Relief Package
The June 5, 2026 fire alarm at the MCA Data Centre — and the unplanned DR switchover it triggered — exposed something most compliance professionals suspected but rarely say out loud: MCA21's disaster recovery was not a seamless failover. Services remained degraded for nearly two weeks after the switchover. That is not a minor glitch — it is a resilience problem that turned a precautionary alarm into a near-fortnight of compliance paralysis for thousands of practitioners. For any company whose name reservation lapsed silently during those 15 days, this is not a theoretical cost.
The most important compliance risk embedded in the relief package concerns the bifurcated name reservation and e-form resubmission relief. The cut-off between June 5–20 (requires Helpdesk action by June 30) and June 21–30 (automatic) is administratively neat but creates a real trap: practitioners who assumed everything was automatically handled may discover — after July 10 — that their Category B filings were not extended because no Helpdesk ticket was raised in time. With the June 30 Helpdesk deadline literally two days away as of this writing, this is the most urgent action item in this entire guide.
The analysis below covers two additional risks embedded in the relief package: the DPT-3 misconception risk and the broader infrastructure resilience question. Both have direct compliance implications for CS professionals managing large client portfolios.
The DPT-3 extension is not a free pass — it is a window to get the filing right. ROC scrutiny of DPT-3 non-filers has increased, and "we thought the form didn't apply to us" is not a viable defence. Use these extra weeks to verify that every outstanding exempt deposit category as on March 31, 2026 is correctly captured: directors' loans, shareholder borrowings, bank facilities, group company amounts, inter-corporate deposits — all of it. Filing late with incomplete disclosure is worse than filing on time.
One operational takeaway from June 2026 is worth keeping permanently: build a two-week internal buffer into every MCA filing calendar. The statutory deadline is not the safe filing date — it is the last possible date before penalty, and as this incident showed, even that window can be taken away without warning. If June 2026 did not make that case, nothing will.
- → DPT-3 due date extended to 31 July 2026 — Detailed analysis of General Circular No. 02/2026 and DPT-3 filing requirements
- → Name reservation and resubmission extension — Complete guide to the MCA Memorandum relief for name reservations and pending e-forms
- → CCFS-2026 complete guide — Everything about the Companies Compliance Facilitation Scheme — forms covered, fee structure, and filing process
General Circular No. 02/2026 | F. No. Policy-02/2/2020-CL-V-MCA | Ministry of Corporate Affairs | Dated: June 19, 2026 | Subject: Relaxation in paying additional fees in filing Form DPT-3 for FY ended March 31, 2026 up to July 31, 2026
Memorandum No. EGov-04/2/2021-e-Gov-MCA, Comp. No. 185122 | Ministry of Corporate Affairs | Signed by: M. Harshavardhan Reddy, Deputy Director | Subject: Relief for name reservations and e-form resubmissions affected by Data Centre fire
General Circular No. 01/2026 | Ministry of Corporate Affairs | Dated: February 24, 2026 | Subject: Companies Compliance Facilitation Scheme, 2026 (CCFS-2026)
MCA Data Centre Fire Announcement | @MCA21India on X | June 5, 2026
ICSI Representation to MCA | CS Pawan G. Chandak, President, ICSI | June 12, 2026 | Reported via TaxGuru
MCA Homepage Banner | mca.gov.in | Live as of publication date | Confirms relief measures for name reservations, e-form resubmissions, and DPT-3 filings in response to the Data Centre fire alarm incident
MCA Capacity Augmentation Notice | @MCA21India on X | June 16, 2026
