Sherman Ltd. approached a financial institution for a loan. The financial institution asked you as a Company Secretary in Practice to submit a search report giving the relevant details as per provisions of the Companies

Compilation and Preparation of Search Report A Search Report prepared enables the Bank /Financial Institution to evaluate the extent up to which the company has already borrowed money and created charges on the security of its movable and/or immovable properties. Search Report compiled on the basis of the scrutiny of the various documents, e.g. Company Master Data, Article of Association, Particulars of charges, modification, register of charge, verification of documents relating to charges and through MCA-21 downloading of public documents, it is related and restricted to only those documents which are available for the inspection on MCA-21 on the date(s) when the search is carried out. An index of the charges is available on the website of MCA. This index provides charge ID, the date of filing of the document, charge amount secured, name of charge holder and its address. In order to view index of charges, it is primarily necessary to quote CIN/FCRN of the company. This number will primarily be available at the website of the ministry. It is advisable to note down from the index, the short particulars of all Forms CHG-1, 4, 9 for the purpose of cross-checking and ensuring that no document is missed in the Search Report. Also, it would be advisable to mention in the Search Report by way of a footnote as to what was the last document which was available for inspection when the scrutiny was taken/completed. This information can be helpful in identifying the forms and based on which the Search Report is given.