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THE FACTORING REGULATION ACT, 2011 – AN OVERVIEW |
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THE FACTORING REGULATION ACT, 2011 – AN OVERVIEW |
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Introduction The Factoring Regulation Act,2011 (‘Act’ for short) was enacted to provide for and regulate assignment of receivables by making provisions for registration therefore and rights and obligations of parties to contract for assignment of receivables and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. This act extends to whole of India. The provisions of this Act shall have effect, notwithstanding any thing inconsistent therewith contained in any other law for the time being in force or any instrument having effect by virtue of any such law. Definitions for important terms Section 2(i) defines the term ‘factor’ as a non banking financial company as defined in Section 45-I (f) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934 which has been granted a certificate of registration under Section 3(1) or any body corporate established under an Act of Parliament or any State Legislature or any bank or any company registered under the Companies Act, 1956 engaged in the factoring business. Section 2(j) of the Act defines the term ‘factoring business’ as the business of acquisition of receivables of assignor by accepting assignment of such receivables or financing, whether by way of making loans or advances or otherwise against the security interest over any receivables but does not include-
Section 2(p) defines the term ‘receivables’ as all or part of or undivided interest in any right of any person under a contract including an international contract where either the assignor or the debtor or the assignee is situated or established in a State outside India; to payment of a monetary sum whether such right is existing, future, accruing, conditional or contingent arising from and includes, any arrangement requiring payment of toll or any other sum, by whatever name called, for the use of any infrastructure facility or services. Registration of Factors Every factor shall make an application for registration to RBI in the prescribed form and in the manner prescribed. A company registered as a NBFC and existing on the commencement of this Act and engaged in factoring business as its principal business before such commencement shall make an application for registration as a factor to the RBI before the expiry of the period of six months from such commencement and, notwithstanding anything contained may continue to carry on the factoring business until a certificate of registration is issued to it or rejection of application for registration is communicated to it. Every applicant for grant of a certificate of registration as a factor shall comply for the purpose of registration, with all requirements to be fulfilled by an applicant for grant of certificate of registration as NBFC under RBI Act, 1934 and all the provisions of that Act so far as they relate to registration of NBFC, shall mutatis mutandis apply. Assignment of receivables Any assignor may, by an agreement in writing assign any receivable due and payable to him by any debtor, to any factor, being the assignee, for a consideration as may be agreed between the assignor and the assignee and the assignor shall at the time of such assignment, disclose to the assignee any defences and right of set off that may be available to the debtor. On execution of assignment in writing all the rights, remedies and any security interest created over any property exclusively to secure the due payment of receivable shall vest in the assignee and the assignee shall have an absolute right to recover such receivable and exercise all the rights and remedies of the assignor whether by way of damages or otherwise or whether notice of assignment is given or not. Non applicability Section 31 of the Act provides that the provisions of this Act shall not apply to any assignment of receivables arising under or from the following transactions:
Notice mandatory Any assignee of a receivable shall not be entitled to demand payment of the receivable from the debtor in respect of receivables unless notice of such assignment is given to the debtor by the assignor or the assignee along with express authority in its favor granted by the assignor. Rights and obligations Chapter IV of the Act deals with the rights and obligations of the parties to contract for assignment of receivables. The debtor is having the right to notice of assignment before any demand is made on it by the assignee and until notice is served on the debtor, the debtor shall be entitled to make payments to the assignor in respect of the assigned receivable in accordance with the original contract and such payment shall fully discharge the debtor from corresponding liability under the original contract. Where a notice of assignment is served the debtor shall-
Where a debtor makes any payment to an assignor which represents payments due on an assigned receivable, such payment shall be deemed to be for the benefit of the assignee and the assignor shall be deemed to have received the amount of such payment as a trustee of the assignee and the assignor shall make payment of such amount to the assignee. If the assignor of receivable is a micro or small enterprise, the liability of the debtor to make payment due on assigned receivables shall be subject to the provisions contained in Sections 15 to 17 of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Act, 2006 with regards to the delayed payments of the receivables. In case of delay of payment, the assignee shall be entitled to receive interest for the delayed period and shall take steps under the provisions of Micro and Medium Enterprises Development Limited Act, 2006 for the purpose of recovery of the interest and shall pay such interest to the micro or small enterprise. Except as provided in the Act any assignment of the receivables shall not without the express consent of the debtor in writing, affect the rights and obligations of the debtor. Consequent upon the assignment of receivables, the payment instruction under the contract entered into between assignor and debtor may modify the name of person, address or account to which the debtor is required to make payment, but such instruction shall not modify-
In a claim by the assignee against the debtor for payment of the assigned receivable, the debtor may raise against the assignee-
Any agreement made before service of the notice of the assignment of a receivable that affects the assignee’s rights in respect of that receivable shall be effective as against the assignee and the assignee shall acquire rights in the assigned receivables, as modified by such agreement. Any agreement made, after the notice that affects the assignee’s rights shall be ineffective as against the assignee unless-
If the assignee commits any breach of the original contract with the debtor, such breach shall not entitle the debtor to recover from the assignee any sum paid by the debtor to the assignee or the assignee pursuant to the factoring transactions. Registration of assignments Chapter V of the Act deals with the registration of assignments. The following is the procedure for registration of assignments and the matters incidental thereto:
Public inspection The particulars of transactions entered in the Central Register shall be open during business hours for inspection by any person on payment of prescribed fee, The Central Register maintained in electronic form shall also be open during the business hours or such extended hours as may be specified by the Central Registry for inspection by any person through electronic media on payment of prescribed fee. Offences and penalties If there is any default in registration of assignments such company and every officer of the company who is in default shall be punishable with fine which may extend to ₹ 5,000/- for every day during which the default continues. If any factor fails to comply with any direction of RBI the RBI may impose a penalty which may extend to ₹ 5 lakhs and in the case of a continuing offence, with an additional fine which may extend to ₹ 10,000/- for every day during which the default continues. If any person contravenes or attempts to contravene or abets the contravention of the provisions of the Act or of any rules made there under, for which no specific penalty has been provided for, he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine or with both.
By: DR.MARIAPPAN GOVINDARAJAN - January 5, 2015
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