The figures were disclosed by minister of state for corporate affairs Harsh Malhotra in response to an unstarred question raised by Shiv Sena (UBT) Lok Sabha member Rajabhau Parag Prakash Waje.
According to the government reply, Mumbai city recorded the highest number of such companies at 12,009, followed by Pune with 6,433 and Thane with 4,704. Together, the three districts accounted for 23,146 companies, or about 64% of the statewide total.
The government, however, clarified that the figures represent companies that were liquidated, dissolved or struck off under the relevant legal provisions and should not automatically be treated as a count of businesses that physically shut down operations or as a measure of job losses.
Mr Waje, the MP, had specifically sought details of private companies that were shut down in Maharashtra, including in industrial hubs such as Nashik, Pune and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, where workers have reportedly been affected by the closures. He also sought information on rehabilitation measures, payment of provident fund (PF), gratuity and pending wages, as well as proposed tax incentives and location-based benefits to attract industries to rural and backward districts.
According to the district-wise data, Mumbai city accounted for the largest share with 12,009 companies. Pune followed with 6,433 and Thane with 4,704. Nagpur recorded 1,478, while Nashik had 840, Raigarh 822 and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (erstwhile Aurangabad) 654.
Kolhapur recorded 429 companies, followed by Solapur with 262, Sangli with 247, Jalgaon with 215, Satara with 196, Nanded with 169, Latur with 163 and Amravati with 151. The other districts included Ahmednagar with 308, Akola with 119, Bhandara with 51, Chandrapur with 111, Dhule with 99, Jalna with 108, Nandurbar with 47, Parbhani with 72, Ratnagiri with 78, Sindhudurg with 46, Wardha with 69 and Yavatmal with 76.
The government data also showed that 5,636 companies were included under the 'others' category.
Business services accounted for the largest number of companies liquidated, dissolved, or struck off, with 14,613 cases. Manufacturing, mining, quarrying and other activities accounted for 6,582, while trading accounted for 4,196.
Community, personal and social services accounted for 3,361 companies, construction 2,356, transport, storage and communications 1,336, agriculture and allied activities 1,178, real estate and renting 1,149 and finance 1,012. Electricity, gas and water companies accounted for 387 cases, while the insurance sector recorded 41.
The government said it does not maintain information on the number of workers affected by the closure of operations of private companies.
"Information on the workers affected due to the closure of operations of private companies is not maintained by this Ministry," the minister said in the reply.
On the issue of unpaid wages and statutory dues, the government pointed to the existing mechanisms under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) and the Companies Act.
The ministry said that when a company is admitted into the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) under the IBC, claims of employees and workers are dealt with during the resolution or liquidation process in accordance with orders passed by the adjudicating authority.
In cases where companies are undergoing winding-up or liquidation, claims of workmen and employees, including pending wages and other admissible statutory dues, are handled by the liquidator under the applicable provisions of the Companies Act or the IBC.
The liquidator invites and adjudicates claims from workers and employees and distributes the proceeds realised from the company's assets according to the statutory order of priority, subject to the availability of funds.
The response does not indicate any separate mechanism that guarantees full recovery of workers' outstanding dues when a company is closed or liquidated.
The government was also asked whether a special rehabilitation package was being implemented for workers affected by company closures in Maharashtra. It was further asked whether tax incentives and location-based benefits were being proposed to attract genuine industries to rural and backward districts of the state.
The ministry did not provide details of any Maharashtra-specific rehabilitation package or new centrally administered tax (CAT) incentive scheme in response. It said that such information is not centrally maintained with the ministry in view of its response to the earlier parts of the question.
The figures have meanwhile triggered criticism from opposition leaders, who have sought to link the large number of companies removed from the register to the business environment in Maharashtra. Opposition leaders have alleged excessive government interference, corruption and an increasingly unfavourable environment for businesses as factors affecting industrial and commercial activity in the state.
However, the data tabled in Parliament does not establish the reasons behind the liquidation, dissolution or striking off of individual companies. Nor does it distinguish between companies that became inactive, entities voluntarily wound up their affairs, companies involved in insolvency proceedings and companies whose names were removed from the register under statutory provisions.
The distinction is significant because a company being struck off, dissolved, or liquidated does not, by itself, establish that it had a large operating workforce or that its closure resulted in job losses.
Nevertheless, the disclosure of 36,211 such cases provides a broad picture of the scale of corporate entities that exited Maharashtra's official company register during the five-year period. The concentration of cases in Mumbai, Pune and Thane also highlights the extent to which corporate activity and company registrations remain centred around the state's major commercial and industrial centres.
The absence of worker-level data, however, means the Parliamentary reply does not establish how many employees lost their jobs or how much in wages, PF, gratuity or other statutory dues remained unpaid following the closure of these companies.
