Who is a registered owner of shares of a company? Is registered owner different from beneficial owner ? What are the declarations to be filed by the registered owner/beneficial owner to the company ? Is the company requi

Registered owner of a company is a person whose name is entered in the register of members of a company as holder of shares of the company but may not hold the entire benefit of interest in such shares. Whereas, beneficial owner is a person having beneficial interest in the share but his name is not entered in the register of members. Therefore, registered owner may be different from beneficial owner. Section 89 (1) of the Companies Act, 2013 read with rule 9 of the Companies (Management and Administration) Rules, 2014 provides that, the person or the company (as the case may be), whose name is to be entered into the register of members of the company but who does not hold the beneficial interest in such shares shall submit the declaration in Form MGT-4 within thirty days from the date on which his name is entered in the register of members of such company. Similarly, as per section 89(2) read with rule 9(2) of the Companies (Management and Administration) Rules, 2014, the beneficial owner shall also file declaration with the company in from MGT-5 disclosing the interest within 30 days after acquiring such beneficial interest in the shares of the company (including changes that may occur at any time in future). Section 89(6) provides that where any declaration as mentioned above (MGT-4 or MGT-5) is received by the company, the company shall make a note of such declaration in the register of members and shall file within 30 days from receiving of such declaration, a return to Registrar of Companies (ROC) in form MGT-6 in respect of such declaration with fee. The basic intent behind the above section is to reveal the identity of the beneficial owner who is unknown to the company.