Director Disqualification Risk Checker — Section 164
Reviewed by Finin2min Editorial Desk · Last reviewed 11 August 2026
Screen conviction, calls, non-filing, deposit/debenture/dividend default and other common director-disqualification triggers.
Screen director risk
Risk result
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Trigger count
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Appointment restrictions, vacation of office and five-year periods require fact-specific legal dates.
How This Is Calculated
Section 164 disqualifies a person from being a director on grounds including the company's failure to file financial statements/annual returns for 3 consecutive years, or failure to repay deposits/debentures/dividends for a year and more — this tool screens common disqualification triggers against your specific facts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does non-filing by one company affect a director's other directorships?
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Yes — a common and significant consequence of Section 164 disqualification is that it can affect the person's eligibility to continue as director in other companies too, not just the defaulting company, making this a serious cross-company risk.
What is the 3-year non-filing disqualification trigger?
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A director can be disqualified if the company has failed to file financial statements or annual returns for any continuous period of 3 financial years — this is one of the most common disqualification grounds, often affecting dormant or non-compliant shell companies.
Scope: Checks director disqualification risk under Section 164 of the Companies Act, 2013, based on the specific disqualifying grounds.
Calculation logic
Check against the automatic disqualification grounds under Section 164(1): unsound mind (court-declared), undischarged insolvent, conviction for a specified offence with a specified sentence, court/tribunal order disqualifying the person, non-payment of calls on shares for a specified period, and conviction for related-party-transaction offences under Section 188 within the preceding 5 years.
Check the specific company-default-linked disqualification under Section 164(2): a director of a company that has failed to file financial statements/annual returns for any continuous period of 3 financial years, or has failed to repay deposits/interest/redeem debentures/pay dividend for a specified period — such a director becomes disqualified from being reappointed/appointed as a director of that company or any other company for a specified period (5 years).
Where a Section 164(2) disqualification is triggered, flag that it applies to the director's position across all companies where they are a director, not just the defaulting company — a key, often underappreciated consequence of this specific ground.
Inputs and assumptions
Disqualification grounds and their specific conditions/durations follow the current Section 164 provisions.
The Section 164(2) company-default ground requires the default to have continued for the full specified period (3 continuous financial years for non-filing) — a single year of default, or non-continuous defaults, does not itself trigger this specific disqualification ground, which the checker applies as a continuity requirement.
Exclusions and edge cases
This is a risk-screening checker, not a substitute for checking the MCA's own DIN status/disqualified-director list, which is the authoritative record — always cross-check current status on the MCA portal before relying on this assessment for a specific appointment decision.
Disqualification under Section 164 is distinct from removal of a director under Section 169 (a separate, shareholder-resolution-driven process) — this checker addresses statutory disqualification grounds only.