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Section 60: Publication of authorised, subscribed and paid-up capital

Companies Act • Official Statutory Text & Practice Guide

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Act 2013
Section 59 All 470 Sections of Companies Act Section 61
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Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 60

Section 60 of the Companies Act, 2013 enforces strict commercial transparency by requiring that whenever a company advertises or publishes its authorised capital, it must display its subscribed and paid-up capital with equal prominence and conspicuousness.

  • Trigger for Mandatory Disclosure: Applies where any notice, advertisement, or other official publication, or any business letter, bill head, or letter paper of a company contains a statement of the amount of the authorised capital of the company.
  • Equal Prominence and Conspicuousness Rule: The publication must state in an equally prominent position and in equally conspicuous characters the amount of capital that has been subscribed and the amount paid-up, preventing deceptive inflation of financial size.
  • Statutory Penalties for Misleading Presentation: Default attracts a penalty of ten thousand rupees on the company and five thousand rupees on every officer of the company who is in default for each contravention, adjudicable under Section 454.
Key Landmark Precedents:
  • State of Gujarat v. Lalitaben, 1980 GLR 231: The Gujarat High Court held that corporate stationery, advertisements, and publications must present an accurate picture of capitalization to prevent misleading the commercial public regarding corporate solvency and creditworthiness.
  • Re: Babulal Choukhani, (1938) 8 Comp Cas 283 (Cal): The Calcutta High Court emphasized that statutory disclosure provisions regarding capital structure are strict liability mandates designed to maintain commercial transparency for prospective creditors.
  • Registrar of Companies v. Smt. Kamala Devi, (1978) 48 Comp Cas 614 (All): The Allahabad High Court affirmed that omitting to state paid-up capital when authorised capital is stated in company letterheads is a strict statutory contravention punishable without the necessity of establishing fraudulent intent.
Courtroom Practice & Strategic Litigation Guidance:

In corporate branding and tender filings, audit all official stationery, brochures, websites, and tender bids to ensure that wherever authorised capital is mentioned, subscribed and paid-up capital are stated in identical font size and weight. If an RoC show-cause notice under Section 60 is received, immediately file Form GNL-1 with rectified stationery proofs to seek compounding or minimal adjudication under Section 454.

Section 59 All 470 Sections of Companies Act Section 61