Accounting Policy

Policy Objective

To define the policy and guidelines to identify, classify, retain and protect all types of company documents for sufficient length of time so as to comply with the regulatory requirements and also to have records for use in events of disputes, litigation, investigation, etc. The records containing confidential/proprietary information must be:
  • Classified and stored appropriately having regard to the sensitivity and confidentiality of the material recorded.
  • Retrievable and easily traced.
  • Retained for only as long as necessary.
  • Declassified and disposed of appropriately to ensure that Intellectual Property Rights/confidentiality attached thereto are not breached and to prevent them falling into the hands of unauthorized persons
This policy intends to provide necessary guidance for preservation, custody and disposal of documents maintained/filed by the Company.

Documents & Records Covered Under the Policy

This Policy shall inter alia, cover the following type of documents:

(a) Documents evidencing incorporation/registration of the Company.
(b) Constitution documents such as Memorandum and Articles of Association, Shareholder Agreements.
(c) Statutory Registers, Minutes books, duly authenticated Financial Statements and the Annual Return prepared under the Companies Act, 2013/1956.
(d) Documents relating to issue/allotment of securities (for e.g. Prospectus, Letter of Offer, Register of Allotment, etc.).
(e) Books of Accounts and other records of the Company.
(f) Original signed Notices and Agenda of the Board & Committee Meetings/Annual General Meeting/Extra Ordinary General Meeting.
(g) Filings made with Income Tax Department, Registrar of Companies, Reserve Bank of India and/or any other statutory authority(ies).
(h) Record of transactions with customers, Know Your Customer records, etc
(i) Filings made under the Income Tax Act, 1961, Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017, Customs Act, 1962, Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 and Competition Act, 2002.
(j) Filings made under the Employee Welfare or Labour Legislations governing the Company.
(k) Agreements entered into by the Company from time to time.
(l) Documents relating to legal cases and litigations involving the Company.
(m) Such other documents as may be required to be preserved by the Company under applicable laws.

Guidelines for preservation of documents

Period, Place & Responsibility of Preservation
The documents shall be preserved in the manner as stated below:

Type of Documents

Period of Preservation

Place of Storage 

Responsibility & Custody of Documents 

Documents evidencing Registration / Incorporation of the Company

Permanently

Registered 

Office

Company Secretary 

Constitution documents such as Memorandum and Articles of Association, Shareholder Agreements.

Permanently

Registered Office

Company Secretary

Statutory, Registers, Minutes Book, Original signed Financial Statements and Annual Return prepared under the Companies Act, 2013/1956; 

Permanently

Registered Office

Company Secretary

Documents related to allotment of securities (for e.g. Bonds, Shares, Prospectus, Letter of Offer, Register of Allotment, etc.) 

Permanently

Registered Office

Company Secretary

Notices and Agenda of the Board Meeting / Annual General Meeting / Extraordinary General Meeting and Attendance Registers of Board / Committee meetings.

Ten years

Registered Office

Company Secretary

Various filings made with Registrar of Companies

Permanently

Registered Office or godown including third party record management company’s godown. 

Company Secretary

Angle Investor(s), Venture Capitalist(s), Foreign Direct Investment/FDI, Reserve Bank of India or any other statutory authority(ies). 

Permanently

Registered Office or godown including third party record management company’s godown.

Company Secretary

Books of Accounts and other records of the Company

Ten years

Registered Office

Chief Financial Officer

Record of transactions with customers.

Ten years

Registered Office

Chief Financial Officer

Know Your Customer (KYC) records, etc.

Permanently

Registered Office and Area Offices

Business Unit Heads

Filings made under the Income Tax Act, 1961 and GST Act, 2017

Permanently

Registered Office or Area Offices or godown including third party record management company’s godown

Chief Financial Officer 

Central Excise Act, 1944 and Customs Act, 1962.

Permanently

Registered Office or Area Offices or godown including third party record management company’s godown.

Chief Commercial Officer

Filings made under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 and Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999. 

Permanently 

Registered Office or Area Offices or godown including third party record management company’s godown. 

Chief Financial Officer

Filings made under Competition Act, 2002.

Permanently

Registered Office or Area Offices or godown including third party record management company’s godown

Company Secretary

Filings made under the Employee Welfare or Labour Legislations. 

Permanently

Registered Office or Area Offices or godown including third party record management company’s godown

eadAdministration / Business Unit Heads.

Agreements entered into by the Company from time to time. 

Ten years after completion of transactions contemplated under the Agreements

Registered Office or Area Offices or godown including third party record management company’s godown

Company Secretary / Chief Financial Officer / Chief Commercial Officer / Business Unit Heads 

Documents relating to legal cases and litigations involving the Company. 

Till the completion / Closure of cases / Litigations and for ten years thereafter

Registered Office or Area Offices or godown including third party record management company’s godown

Company Secretary / Chief Financial Officer / Chief Commercial Officer / HeadLegal

Any other documents not covered above. 

Ten years

Registered Office or Area Offices or godown including third party record management company’s godown

 
Any document that relates to any activity which is subject matter of ongoing inspection/ investigation/ litigation/ assessment/ appeal should be retained irrespective of the period specified above and for five years after the final disposal of the matter.

Any document that relates to any activity which is subject matter of ongoing inspection/ investigation/ litigation/ assessment/ appeal should be retained irrespective of the period specified above and for five years after the final disposal of the matter.

Storage of Documents & Records

(i) All the documents should be kept in lock and key under the supervision of the person responsible for custody and storage of such documents as stated above. Some of the documents such as minutes, statutory registers, original registration certificates, etc. in locker with a proper lock and key facility in it.
(ii) All the Documents may be preserved in the godown under the supervision of the Company Secretary/ Compliance Officer/ Chief Financial Officer/ Head Procurement & Commercial / Business Unit Heads, as the case may be. However, where in case of any pending assessment/litigation with any regulatory authorities, such Documents may be retained beyond the prescribed period.

Destruction & Disposal of Documents

(i) The destruction and disposal of Documents shall be done in compliance with the applicable statutory provisions prescribed under the Acts. The Company shall maintain the records of the documents which are destroyed or disposed off forever.
(ii) All the Documents containing information of a confidential or sensitive nature on paper, card, or electronic media must be securely destroyed when it is no longer required.
(iii) The procedure for the destruction of Confidential or Sensitive Waste on paper may be followed as outlined hereunder:
(a) All records maintained in physical mode and no longer required to be preserved should be mechanically shredded if the content thereof is in any way sensitive.
(b) If waste is disposed of by using the shredder, ensure that it is used safely in accordance with its operating instructions, and that waste is shredded in such a way that it cannot be put back together again, and made comprehensible.
(c) All other documents can be disposed of in the boxes or bins provided in offices for environment-friendly disposal of white non-confidential and non-sensitive paper waste.
(iv) The procedure for the destruction of the Documents containing confidential or Sensitive Waste on electronic media such as tape, disk, cassette/ cartridge, hard drives, CD-Rom, DVD, Cloud and ZIP drive is as follows:
(a) Electronic Media such as disks, tapes, DVD, Cloud or CD ROM that are being destroyed because they are showing signs of damage or are obsolete should be physically destroyed by being cut into pieces or shredded or similar other ways prior to disposal.
(b) Where disks, tapes, DVD, Cloud or CD ROM are being used to supply data to third parties they should, at the very least, be reformatted before the files are saved. The process of saving files to the disk may overwrite areas of the disk previously used, but this is no guarantee of preventing retrieval of previously stored filed. The most effective say to ensure that Preservation of Documents Policy – Updated on: 01st August, 2017 Page 7 of 9 Approved by the Board of Directors of Bahuvida Limited on: 01st August, 2017 these electronic documents are cleaned of all previous data is to use a utility package to perform a “secure wipe”.
(v) Selection of data for permanent destruction shall be done with the specific approval of the Managing Director, ED, COO or the Company Secretary/ Compliance Officer or CF

Criteria for Selection of Documents for Permanent Preservation

Besides the Documents which need to be preserved permanently under the Acts, some other documents also may have to be kept permanently even after the retention period prescribed by statute or dictated by administrative, legal or financial needs has expired for historical purposes.

The following general principles should be borne in mind when considering the preservation of documents permanently.

  • Is the record significant in terms of the history or development of the Company or its departments or of important policy changes or initiatives?
  • Does the record shed significant light on historically important events?
  • Does the record relate to a transaction which sets, or is likely to set, a precedent?
  • Does the record contain data which would be useful for retrospective comparisons?
  • Does the record contain systematically recorded data which is not easily available elsewhere?
  • Does the record contain information gathered from outside the Company which is likely to be of use for future events, and which is not readily available elsewhere?
  • Is the record likely to be useful as legal evidence in the future? (e.g. documents relating to disputes – but only those which record the outcome and significant events leading to it).

Document Management System

The following document management system to be implemented:

(i) Scanning of Documents: 

All documents based on their relevance and importance should be scanned and a copy of the same should be maintained in the appropriate local system, a copy in the dedicated server and a copy with Preservation of Documents Policy – Updated on: 01st August, 2017 Page 8 of 9 Approved by the Board of Directors of Bahuvida Limited on: 01st August, 2017 appropriate back up in cloud as well. Emphasis should be laid to properly name and file the scanned documents. This will reduce the dependence on the physical documents as and when required and will help the same in preserving in good order. As per the company law and regulations, documents specified in above clauses may be maintained in electronic mode. Retaining of scan copy of any document may be considered as maintaining of original documents

(ii) Filing System: 

Proper filing system needs to be in place in respect of all Documents which are required to be preserved for a long period of time and the files containing the documents having to be suitably named.

(iii) Records of Documents Sent to Godown: 

The record of the documents which are in the process of being sent to the godown after a specific period of time should be properly written and files tagged. The details of documents being sent, the period to which the documents relate should be clearly mentioned. It should be ensure that the documents which are being sent to the godown should be categorized department wise. This would ensure retrieval of documents from the godown as and when required. It is also advisable to get the files bounded before sending the same to the godown for storage purpose.

(iv) Backups of Records Stored in Computer : 

The IT Cell is responsible for taking backups of all the data generated in the system across the departments in the Company such as email, filed stored on common drives on the server, cloud etc. The data stored in floppy discs and/or CDs should be preserved in a good order at least for a period of ten years.

Amendments

Any amendment in this Policy may be carried out with the approval of the Board of Directors of the Company. In case any amendment(s), clarification(s), and guideline(s) issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs/ Registrar of Companies, Ministry of Finance is contrary to or inconsistent with the provisions laid down under this Policy, then the provisions of such amendment(s), clarification(s), circular(s) and the guideline(s) shall prevail vis-a-vis the contrary or Preservation of Documents Policy – Updated on: 01st August, 2017 Page 9 of 9 Approved by the Board of Directors of Bahuvida Limited on: 01st August, 2017 inconsistent provision hereunder and this Policy shall automatically stand amended accordingly to that extent effective from the date as specified under such amendment(s), clarification(s), circular(s) and guideline(s). Such amendments shall be brought to the attention of the Board of Directors at its meeting held thereafter.