Combating Financial Opacity In India: A Guide To Significant Beneficial Ownership
- IJLLR Journal
- Nov 13, 2025
- 1 min read
Keshav Goenka, University of Mumbai Law Academy
ABSTRACT
The paper focuses on the introduction of significant beneficial ownership compliance under the Companies Act 2013 and the challenges it faces in enforcing the same. The concept of SBO evolved from the FATF recommendations to being actually enforced and making its place in corporate compliance lists. Determining beneficial ownership has become essential lately, given the rise in terrorist financing and money laundering endeavours. To combat the opacity of the companies, also known as a separate legal identity, which is misused by individuals acting on behalf of the company for personal gains. SBO is recommended by FATF to be compliant with corporate governance practices across the world. The paper discusses the evolution of beneficial ownership globally and its adoption in different countries. India adopted the SBO in 2017, making it on par with its global peers. The broader definition and understanding of the term beneficial ownership, i.e., also expansive in nature, was seen through the LinkedIn India Case and is also discussed elaborately in the paper. Lastly, the paper throws light on the setbacks faced by the regulators and companies in enforcing compliance and other factors, including but not limited to offshore holding companies and non-FATF compliant jurisdictions, that make it more challenging for transparent financial practices, as well as some insights on the privacy vs transparency fallacy, which is debated heavily during corporate transparency reforms.
Keywords: Significant beneficial ownership, SBO, Financial opacity, Company law.
