Nearly 17 lakh companies had been registered in India as of last month, out of which a little over 5.32 lakh entities had closed down, as per official data.

The corporate affairs ministry data showed that there were 11.27 lakh active companies as of September while the count of active Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs) stood at 1.03 lakh.

The total number of companies registered in the country stood at 16.97 lakh as on September 30, 2017, the latest monthly bulletin on the corporate sector said.

“Out of the 5,32,063 closed companies, about 10,437 companies were liquidated/dissolved; 490,453 companies were defunct (and hence struck-off); 19,789 companies were amalgamated/merged with other companies,” it added.

Of the total shuttered firms, 6,591 entities were converted to LLPs while 4,793 were converted to LLPs and then dissolved.

In terms of economic activities, maximum number of active companies were in business services, followed by manufacturing, trading and construction activities, as per the data available till September end.

Business services include information technology, research and development activities.

Till September end, as many as 13,927 One Person Companies (OPCs) were registered with collective authorised capital of Rs 358 crore.

“Economic activity wise classification of OPCs up to September 30, 2017 reveals that the highest number of OPCs were in Business Services (8,666) followed by Community, Personal and Social Services (1,515), Manufacturing (1,100) and Trading (1,044),” the ministry said.

The ministry is implementing the Companies Act as well as the law pertaining to LLPs.