Calcutta, July 7: Representatives of non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) queued up in droves on Monday before the Calcutta office of the Reserve Bank of India to meet the July 8 deadline for registration. All NBFCs have to file by Tuesday applications for fresh registration complete with business projections and cash flows for the next three years.

Since the first week of June, when the RBI began dispensing forms, till 4 pm on Monday, 2831 applications had been submitted, with around 2200 NBFCs filing their applications today.

Till last Saturday, only 316 companies had submitted their forms. The RBI has notified that NBFCs that do not comply with the July 8 deadline will be ordered to wind up.

uAccording to official estimates, there are around 6000 NBFCs registered with the registrar of companies in the eastern region and coming under the purview of RBI, Calcutta. The number of companies which had taken forms were 5975.

On Tuesday, the RBI's department of supervision (finance companies), which is in charge of the registration, will keep its counters open from 10am to 8pm. At least around 3000 companies are expected to turn up tomorrow. An executive of a leading city NBFC said it had no problems coming up with the business projections for the next three years as these are made every year. According to him, the main problem lay in the cash flow positions for the next three years which will reflect on the company's liquidity position. "It is hard to say anything now, because the situation could drastically change next year. Who could have foreseen two years back that the industry would be faced with a funds crunch?"

The apex bank requires the cash flow primarily to gauge whether the company will be able to repay its depositors in case of premature withdrawals.Over the next few months, as the RBI sifts through the registration forms, all routine inspection by it are expected to come to a standstill as the entire machinery will be busy with the documents.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.