ROC Jurisdiction Re-alignment 2026: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Uttar Pradesh ROC Splits Effective February 16, 2026 and How to Verify Your Current ROC

Quick Summary: ROC Jurisdiction Re-alignment at a Glance

• Effective date: February 16, 2026 per MCA Notification S.O. 658(E) dated February 12, 2026 read with Rule 5 of the Companies (Registration Offices and Fees) Rules, 2014.
• What changed: Four ROC offices (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Uttar Pradesh) have been split into multiple sub-jurisdictions. Each new ROC has its own state or district code, separate filing queue, and dedicated registrar.
• Why it matters: Filings made to the wrong ROC after February 16, 2026 are non-curable defects. The form is rejected, fees are forfeited, and the deadline clock continues to tick. Section 403 additional fees apply on the re-filing to the correct jurisdiction.
• Verification deadline: Companies should confirm their current ROC before their next AOC-4, MGT-7, BEN-2, or DIR-12 filing window. The next filing wave (AOC-4 for FY 2025-26) opens September 2026; misrouted filings made now will be rejected on submission.
• Affected companies: Approximately 5.6 lakh active companies registered in Delhi, Maharashtra, West Bengal, and Uttar Pradesh. Multi-state portfolios held by CAs, CSes, and group secretarial teams need a one-time bulk verification exercise.

What Triggered the ROC Jurisdiction Re-alignment in 2026?

The MCA has been progressively splitting high-volume ROC offices since 2023 to address two structural issues: (a) backlog at metropolitan ROCs handling 1.5+ lakh active companies each, and (b) the operational shift to the V3 portal, which permits geographically distributed filing teams to work from secondary registrar locations. The February 12, 2026 notification S.O. 658(E) (effective February 16, 2026) is the third and largest tranche of this re-alignment, completing the splits for Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and UP.

The re-alignment is driven by Section 396 of the Companies Act, 2013, which empowers the Central Government to establish ROCs and notify their territorial jurisdiction. Once notified, the new jurisdictions take effect prospectively for all fresh filings and amendments. Pending matters (forms filed before February 16, 2026 and currently under examination) continue to be processed by the original ROC; only fresh post-February 16 filings move to the new offices.

For practitioners, the practical impact is that the company’s CIN and master data on the V3 portal now show a different “ROC of registration” than what was on file even six months ago. Most CIN structures retain the original state code, but the registrar code embedded in the CIN no longer maps to a single physical ROC office.

The New ROC Map Effective February 16, 2026

The following table lists the 12 ROC offices that emerged from the four pre-existing offices, along with their new territorial jurisdictions. Always confirm the current allocation on the MCA portal before any filing, as district-level reassignments may follow.

Pre-Feb 16, 2026 ROC	New ROC(s) Effective Feb 16, 2026	Jurisdiction
ROC Delhi (combined NCT and Haryana)	ROC Delhi (NCT-East and Central)	NCT of Delhi: Central, East, North-East, Shahdara districts
	ROC Delhi-West	NCT of Delhi: West, North-West, South-West, New Delhi, South, South-East districts
	ROC Haryana	State of Haryana (formerly under ROC Delhi for Gurugram and Faridabad cluster)
ROC Mumbai (combined Maharashtra)	ROC Mumbai-MMR	Mumbai City, Mumbai Suburban, Thane, Palghar, Raigad districts
	ROC Pune	Pune, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Solapur, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg districts
	ROC Nagpur	Nagpur, Wardha, Bhandara, Gondia, Chandrapur, Gadchiroli, Amravati, Akola, Buldhana, Yavatmal, Washim districts
	ROC Aurangabad	Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad), Jalna, Beed, Latur, Osmanabad, Nanded, Parbhani, Hingoli, Ahmednagar, Nashik, Dhule, Jalgaon, Nandurbar districts
ROC Kolkata (combined West Bengal)	ROC Kolkata	Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly districts
	ROC West Bengal-North	Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, Uttar Dinajpur, Dakshin Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, Birbhum, Bardhaman East, Bardhaman West, Purulia, Bankura, Paschim Medinipur, Purba Medinipur, Jhargram, Nadia districts
ROC Kanpur (combined UP)	ROC Kanpur	Kanpur Nagar, Kanpur Dehat, Lucknow, Unnao, Hardoi, Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri, Bareilly, Pilibhit, Shahjahanpur, and contiguous districts of central UP
	ROC Noida	Gautam Buddha Nagar, Ghaziabad, Hapur, Bulandshahr, Meerut, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar, Shamli, Bagpat, Aligarh, Mathura, Agra, Firozabad, Mainpuri, Etah, Hathras, Etawah, Auraiya, and contiguous districts of western UP
	ROC Varanasi	Varanasi, Chandauli, Ghazipur, Mirzapur, Sonbhadra, Bhadohi, Jaunpur, Azamgarh, Mau, Ballia, Gorakhpur, Deoria, Kushinagar, Maharajganj, Sant Kabir Nagar, Basti, Siddharthnagar, Allahabad (Prayagraj), Pratapgarh, Sultanpur, Faizabad (Ayodhya), Ambedkar Nagar, Amethi, Rae Bareli, Barabanki, Gonda, Bahraich, Shrawasti, Balrampur, Banda, Chitrakoot, Hamirpur, Mahoba, Jhansi, Lalitpur, Jalaun, Fatehpur, Kaushambi districts

How to Verify Your Company’s Current ROC in 4 Steps

The single most useful diagnostic is the V3 portal master data screen. Use this 4-step process for every CIN under your portfolio.

1. Login to V3 portal: Go to mca.gov.in (V3 services). Use your existing user credentials. If your DSC has not yet been re-associated to V3, complete that first (allow 7 to 10 working days).
2. Open the Master Data screen: Navigate to MCA Services -> Company Services -> View Public Documents -> enter CIN -> view master data. The “Registrar of Companies” row shows the currently assigned ROC effective February 16, 2026.
3. Compare with pre-February 16 ROC: If the company was previously filing at ROC Delhi, ROC Mumbai, ROC Kolkata, or ROC Kanpur, expect a change. Note the new ROC name and jurisdiction code.
4. Update internal records: Update your firm’s compliance tracker, engagement letters that name the ROC, and the company’s stationery and statutory registers if the ROC name appears anywhere.

Where master data on V3 is silent or shows a stale ROC, raise a service request through MCA helpdesk (helpdesk number 1800 11 4445 or service-related@mca.gov.in) referencing notification S.O. 658(E) dated February 12, 2026.

Filing Risk Map: What Goes Wrong if You File at the Wrong ROC

The MCA technical team has confirmed via stakeholder advisory dated March 5, 2026 that wrong-ROC filings will be rejected at the V3 system level after a six-week grace period. From April 1, 2026 onward, the rejection is automatic. The risk has three distinct cost components.

Risk	Cost	Cure
Filing fee forfeiture	Standard fee paid on rejected form is not refunded; full re-filing fee payable	Re-file at correct ROC. Fee paid twice.
Additional fee under Section 403	Up to 12 times normal fee for delays beyond 12 months from due date	None. Section 403 applies to the re-filing date, not the original (rejected) filing date.
Statutory deadline default	Penalty under the parent section (Section 137 for AOC-4, Section 92 for MGT-7, Section 90(11) for BEN-2, etc.)	Continuing default until correct-ROC filing is accepted. Each day adds Rs 100 to Rs 1,000 per day depending on form.
Master data inconsistency	V3 master data shows the failed filing in the rejected queue; due-diligence reports flag the gap	Re-file and obtain fresh SRN. Old SRN may need to be referenced in any responsive submission.
Adjudication exposure	Officer-in-default may face Section 450 residual penalty (Rs 10,000 plus Rs 1,000 per day continuing, capped at Rs 2 lakh) for filing failure	Adjudicating officer has discretion. Mitigation: prompt re-filing and a written explanation citing the re-alignment notification.

Practical Compliance Checklist for CAs and Company Secretaries

The following 9-step checklist is the working playbook for any practitioner with a multi-state company portfolio. Aim to complete this exercise before May 31, 2026 so that the September 2026 AOC-4 filing window finds your portfolio routing correctly.

1. Build the CIN inventory: Export the master list of all CINs handled by your firm or compliance team. Tag each CIN by its registered office state.
2. Filter the at-risk states: Isolate CINs where the registered office is in Delhi, Maharashtra, West Bengal, or Uttar Pradesh. These are the four states where ROC re-alignment took effect.
3. Run the V3 master data check: For each at-risk CIN, open the V3 master data screen and note the current ROC name as on April 30, 2026.
4. Cross-reference with district allocation: Use the district-to-ROC mapping in the table above to confirm the V3 record is consistent with the registered office address. Mismatches require an MCA helpdesk ticket.
5. Update compliance tracker: Replace the old ROC name in your firm’s compliance management system, e-form tracker, and statutory register templates.
6. Update engagement letters: If your engagement letter references a specific ROC by name, issue an addendum to clients confirming the re-allocation. This avoids ambiguity in any future scope-of-services dispute.
7. Update statutory registers: Where the company’s registered office address card, share certificate format, or any stationery references the ROC by name, update the templates.
8. Pre-test V3 form routing: Pick one low-risk form (say, a DIR-3 KYC for an existing director) and submit it to confirm the form routes to the correct new ROC. This pre-test prevents a high-stakes form (like AOC-4 with audited financials) from being misrouted.
9. Document the verification: Save a PDF screenshot of the V3 master data showing the new ROC against each CIN. This becomes evidence in any future adjudication where the company needs to demonstrate it had verified ROC allocation post-re-alignment.

Forms That Must Be Routed to the New ROC From February 16, 2026

Every form that names a ROC in its filing routing logic is affected. The following are the high-volume forms where misrouting risk is highest in the next 90 days.

• AOC-4 (annual financial statements): Due within 30 days of AGM. The September to October 2026 filing wave is the first major test of the new routing for FY 2025-26 annual returns.
• MGT-7 or MGT-7A (annual return): Due within 60 days of AGM. The annual SBO verification tick-box (effective FY 2025-26 per the SBO V3 mandate) is part of this form.
• BEN-2 (SBO declaration): Due within 30 days of BEN-1 receipt. Aligns with the new SBO V3 Register electronic mandate effective April 1, 2026.
• DIR-12 (director appointment, resignation, change): Due within 30 days of the change. Frequent triggers in PE or VC deal closings.
• INC-22 (change of registered office): If the change crosses the new ROC boundary (for example, from Mumbai-MMR to Pune), Section 12 read with Section 13 procedure applies, including newspaper publication and Regional Director approval where the change crosses jurisdictional limits.
• SH-7 (alteration of share capital), MGT-14 (special resolutions), CHG-1 (charge creation), CHG-4 (charge satisfaction): All routed to the new ROC. Charge-related forms are particularly time-sensitive (30-day window under Section 77).
• INC-22A ACTIVE: If filed on or after February 16, 2026, the ROC field auto-populates from V3 master data. Pre-Feb 16 ACTIVE filings are not affected.

Special Cases and Edge Scenarios

Companies with multiple registered offices across the new ROC boundaries

Some companies maintain branch offices, factory addresses, or registered offices in different districts of the same state. Only the registered office (as recorded in INC-22) determines the ROC. Branch addresses are not relevant. If a company plans to shift its registered office to a different district falling under a new ROC, file INC-22 with the original ROC, then await transfer of records to the new ROC (typically 7 to 14 working days).

Pending investigations or inspections

Where the original ROC has issued a show-cause notice, summons, or inspection order before February 16, 2026, the proceeding continues with the original ROC under the saving clause of S.O. 658(E). Fresh fact patterns or new defaults arising after February 16, 2026 fall under the new ROC’s jurisdiction.

Companies in liquidation or under IBC

Companies under voluntary liquidation, compulsory winding-up, or IBC corporate insolvency resolution process continue with the original ROC for all liquidation-related forms (GNL-3, etc.) until the process concludes. Strike-off forms (STK-1 to STK-7) for fresh strike-offs initiated after February 16, 2026 are routed to the new ROC.

Foreign companies with India branch (FC-1, FC-3, FC-4 filings)

Foreign companies maintaining a branch or place of business in India (registered under Section 380) continue to file at the ROC of the place of business. Re-alignment applies if the place of business is in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, or UP. The principal place of business address determines the new ROC.

FAQs on the ROC Jurisdiction Re-alignment

Q1. Has the CIN of my company changed?

No. The CIN is a permanent identifier and does not change with ROC re-alignment. The ROC code embedded in the CIN (for example, “DL” for Delhi) is retained as a historical artifact. The current ROC of jurisdiction is now displayed separately on V3 master data.

Q2. Do I need to update my company’s PAN, GST registration, or Udyam Registration after the ROC change?

No. PAN is issued by the Income Tax Department and is independent of ROC. GST registration is state-based and is unaffected by ROC re-alignment. Udyam Registration is based on the registered office address but does not depend on ROC. No update is required to these registrations purely on account of the ROC re-alignment.

Q3. Will my company’s existing forms (filed before February 16, 2026) be transferred to the new ROC for further action?

Pending forms that were filed before February 16, 2026 continue with the original ROC for processing. New forms filed on or after February 16, 2026 go to the new ROC. There is no automatic transfer of pending matters; the saving clause in S.O. 658(E) preserves jurisdiction over pre-existing files.

Q4. Our company is registered in Gurugram. We were filing at ROC Delhi. Where do we file now?

The new ROC Haryana, established as a separate office under the February 16, 2026 re-alignment. The address and contact details are available on the MCA portal. All forms for Haryana-registered companies (whether in Gurugram, Faridabad, or any other Haryana district) now route to ROC Haryana.

Q5. Our company is registered in Pune. We were filing at ROC Mumbai. Where do we file now?

The new ROC Pune. Pune, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Solapur, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg districts are now under ROC Pune.

Q6. The V3 master data still shows the old ROC for our company. What should we do?

Raise a service request via MCA helpdesk (1800 11 4445 or service-related@mca.gov.in) citing notification S.O. 658(E) dated February 12, 2026. Provide the CIN, registered office address, and a screenshot of the current master data. Standard turn-around is 7 to 14 working days. Do not file any new form until the master data is corrected.

Q7. We filed a form on March 15, 2026 to the old ROC. The form is still pending. Do we need to refile?

If the form was accepted by the V3 system on March 15, 2026 and is currently in the “pending action by ROC” or “pending payment” queue, it will continue with the original ROC under the saving clause. If, however, the form was rejected or the SRN is showing as “to be re-submitted”, file a fresh form with the new ROC and pay fees again. Section 403 additional fees clock continues from the original due date.

Q8. Does the re-alignment affect the address of the registered office of the company?

No. The registered office address remains as recorded in INC-22. Only the supervising ROC has changed. The company’s registered office continues at the same address until INC-22 is filed to change it.

Q9. Where can I find the official notification S.O. 658(E)?

The notification was published in the Gazette of India (Extraordinary, Part II, Section 3, Sub-section ii) on February 12, 2026 and is available on the MCA portal under “Acts and Rules -> Notifications -> Companies Act, 2013 -> 2026 Notifications”. A consolidated jurisdiction map is also published on the MCA portal under “Registrar of Companies -> Jurisdiction”.

Interaction with Other 2026 Compliance Changes

The ROC re-alignment intersects with three other live 2026 compliance shifts. Plan all four together for the FY 2025-26 audit cycle:

1. SBO Electronic Register on V3 (effective April 1, 2026): BEN-2 filings must now route to the new ROC. See our SBO V3 Register advisory.
2. MCA21 V2 Portal Decommissioning (June 30, 2026): The legacy V2 portal goes dark. All filings, including those affected by re-alignment, will be on V3 only. See our 9-week MCA21 V2 migration checklist.
3. Income-tax Act, 2025 (effective April 1, 2026): AY 2026-27 first-year compliance under the new Act. ROC name appears in tax audit reports under Form 3CD (Clause 4); update the templates. See our Section 92CE Secondary Adjustments advisory.

Action Items for the Next 30 Days (May 1 to May 31, 2026)

1. Week 1 (May 1 to 7): Build the CIN inventory and filter the at-risk CINs (Delhi, Maharashtra, West Bengal, UP).
2. Week 2 (May 8 to 14): Run V3 master data check for every at-risk CIN. Flag mismatches.
3. Week 3 (May 15 to 21): Raise MCA helpdesk tickets for all mismatches. Update internal trackers.
4. Week 4 (May 22 to 31): Pre-test form routing with low-risk filings. Update engagement letters and statutory register templates.

Completing this exercise by May 31, 2026 leaves a 4-month buffer before the September 2026 AOC-4 wave for FY 2025-26 annual returns, which is the first high-volume test of the new routing logic.

Disclaimer

This advisory is based on MCA Notification S.O. 658(E) dated February 12, 2026 (effective February 16, 2026), Section 396 and Section 403 of the Companies Act, 2013, and Rule 5 of the Companies (Registration Offices and Fees) Rules, 2014. ROC jurisdictional allocations may be further refined by the MCA through subsequent notifications, particularly at the district level. Always verify the current ROC of jurisdiction directly on the MCA V3 portal before acting on any filing decision. The information here is provided for general guidance and does not substitute for advisory specific to your client’s situation. Please consult qualified professional advice before making any compliance or filing decisions.

Talk to an Expert

If you handle a multi-state portfolio of CINs and need help running the V3 master data verification at scale, raising helpdesk tickets for mismatched allocations, and updating compliance tracker templates to the new ROC structure, our team can help you complete the exercise before the September 2026 AOC-4 wave. Schedule a quick call with Tax Update India to discuss your situation, or write to us at mail@taxupdate.in.