DIR-3 KYC is no longer annual. It is now once every three years.
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs substituted Rule 12A through the Companies (Appointment and Qualification of Directors) Amendment Rules, 2025. The due date moved from 30 September to 30 June, the e-Form was withdrawn, and your filing year now depends on when your DIN was allotted — not on when you last filed.
What changed on 31 March 2026
Once every three consecutive financial years
30 June
A single unified Form DIR-3 KYC Web
The amendment
Old Rule 12A vs substituted Rule 12A
The Ministry of Corporate Affairs notified the Companies (Appointment and Qualification of Directors) Amendment Rules, 2025 vide G.S.R. 943(E) dated 31 December 2025. The substituted Rule 12A came into force on 31 March 2026. Here is exactly what moved.
Draft forms were cancelled. Any DIR-3 KYC Web or DIR-3 KYC e-Form sitting in Draft, Pending, or Pending-for-DSC-Upload-and-Payment status was marked Cancelled from 31 March 2026. If you had a part-completed filing, it no longer exists — a fresh filing is required.
Primary source: Companies (Appointment and Qualification of Directors) Amendment Rules, 2025, G.S.R. 943(E) dated 31 December 2025, Ministry of Corporate Affairs. Announced via Press Information Bureau following the recommendations of the High Level Committee on Non-Financial Regulatory Reforms.
Applicability
Who must file DIR-3 KYC
Substituted Rule 12A(1)
Every individual holding a Director Identification Number as on 31 March of a financial year must file Form DIR-3 KYC Web — whether or not that individual is presently appointed as a director in any company.
Directors currently on a board
Every serving director of a private limited company, public limited company, One Person Company, Section 8 company or producer company.
DIN holders with no directorship
If you obtained a DIN and never joined a board, the obligation still applies. It attaches to the DIN itself, not to any appointment.
Resigned directors with an active DIN
Resignation from a board does not extinguish the DIN. Until the DIN is surrendered, KYC remains due.
Designated partners of an LLP
Designated partners holding a DIN are covered on the same footing as company directors.
Foreign nationals and NRIs
A non-resident or foreign national holding an Indian DIN files on exactly the same cycle, using the mobile number and email registered against the DIN.
Directors who stand disqualified
Disqualification under section 164(2) does not by itself remove the DIN, and the KYC obligation is framed around holding a DIN. Worth confirming your specific position before assuming an exemption.
Deactivated DIN? You still file.
If your DIN was deactivated for non-filing, the route back is the same Form DIR-3 KYC Web, filed along with the prescribed reactivation fee. Filing is what restores the DIN — there is no separate revival application.
Exclusions
Who does not need to file
The applicability net is wide, but it is not universal. These four situations sit outside the filing obligation — and the last one is where most directors will find themselves for the next two years.
You are in an intermediate year of your cycle
If you have already met your triennial obligation and nothing in your particulars has changed, no filing is required in the two intervening financial years. This covers the majority of DIN holders right now.
Your DIN was surrendered before 31 March
Where a DIN has been surrendered and the application in Form DIR-5 stands approved before the relevant 31 March, no KYC obligation arises for that financial year.
Your DIN was allotted after 31 March of that year
The test is whether you held the DIN as on 31 March. A DIN allotted on 5 April sits in the next financial year for cycle purposes.
One exclusion that is commonly assumed, and is wrong
Not holding any directorship does not exempt you. Neither does being disqualified, nor being a dormant or struck-off company's former director. The obligation runs with the DIN, and the only clean exit is surrender.
Due date finder
Which year is your DIR-3 KYC actually due?
This is the part almost every summary gets wrong. Your cycle is anchored to the financial year in which your DIN was allotted — not the date you last filed. A change-based filing in an intervening year does not reset the clock. Below are the three scenarios the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has itself illustrated.
If your DIN was allotted
During FY 2025‑26 — that is, between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026
First filing due
April 2029 to June 2029
If your DIN was allotted
On or before 31 March 2025, and you already filed KYC for FY 2025‑26
Next filing due
April 2028 to June 2028
If your DIN was allotted
On 1 January 2026, and you update your mobile, email or address during FY 2027‑28
Cycle reckoned from FY 2025‑26 · next filing due
April 2029 to June 2029
Read illustration 2 and 3 together — that is the whole rule
Nothing is due for FY 2026‑27 or FY 2027‑28 for a director who filed for FY 2025‑26 and whose particulars have not changed. If you have been looking for a September deadline this year, there isn't one.
But an update filing does not buy you time. If you change your email in FY 2027‑28 and file the 30-day intimation, your triennial due date stays exactly where it was. The two obligations run on separate tracks and neither substitutes for the other.
Rule 12A(2)
The 30-day update nobody tracks
Relaxing the frequency of routine filing did not relax accountability. A second, entirely separate obligation now carries most of the weight — and because it is event-driven rather than calendar-driven, it is the one directors miss.
Triennial filing
3 years
Calendar-driven · due 30 June
Filed once every third consecutive financial year, anchored to the financial year of DIN allotment. Predictable, and easy to diarise.
Change intimation
30 days
Event-driven · no fixed date
Filed within 30 days of a change in your registered particulars, through the same Form DIR-3 KYC Web with the prescribed fee, regardless of where you sit in the three-year cycle.
Changes that trigger the 30-day clock
- Personal mobile number registered against the DIN
- Email address registered against the DIN
- Residential address
A new SIM, a switch from a work email to a personal one, or a house move are all filing events. Most directors do not think of them that way, which is precisely why this is worth putting on a compliance calendar rather than leaving to memory.
Why this matters more than it looks
Your registered mobile and email are how the MCA reaches you, and how the OTP for your own filings is delivered. Let them go stale and you can be locked out of your own DIN at the moment you need to sign a form — typically the week a bank, a buyer, or a registrar is waiting on you.
Consequences
What happens if you miss the filing
Fewer filings does not mean softer enforcement. The consequence of missing a DIR-3 KYC filing is not a graduated late fee that grows by the day — it is a flat charge plus deactivation of the DIN itself.
₹5,000
Flat fee on late filing
Where the filing is made after the due date, Form DIR-3 KYC Web is accepted only on payment of the prescribed fee under the Companies (Registration Offices and Fees) Rules, 2014. It does not prorate and it does not reduce for a short delay — one day late and one year late carry the same charge.
The knock-on effects, in the order they land
The DIN is marked deactivated
Status against the DIN changes to deactivated due to non-filing of DIR-3 KYC. This is automatic, not discretionary.
You cannot sign any MCA form
A deactivated DIN cannot be used to authenticate filings. Every form requiring your signature stops.
The company's own filings stall
Annual returns, financial statements, charge filings and event-based forms that need your DIN cannot be submitted — so a personal lapse becomes the company's late fee.
Downstream commercial friction
Bank mandates, due diligence, tender submissions and investor checks all read the MCA master data. A deactivated DIN shows up there, and it is not a good look at the wrong moment.
Reactivation is the same form, plus the fee
There is no separate revival route. You file Form DIR-3 KYC Web with the prescribed fee, and the DIN is restored once processed.
Process
How Form DIR-3 KYC Web is filed
With the e-Form withdrawn, there is now one route. The filing itself is short — the part that goes wrong is almost always the OTP, because the mobile number or email registered against the DIN is no longer in use.
Sign in to the MCA portal
Log in to your MCA account and open Form DIR-3 KYC Web from the DIN services area. The Ministry has revised this screen alongside the amendment, so follow the current on-screen labels rather than an older walkthrough.
Confirm the pre-filled particulars
Your DIN, name, PAN, date of birth, address, mobile and email are drawn from existing MCA records. Read them properly — this is the point at which an error becomes a change intimation instead of a routine filing.
Generate and enter both OTPs
Separate one-time passwords are sent to the registered mobile number and the registered email. Both must be entered within the validity window.
Submit and retain the SRN
A Service Request Number is generated on submission. Keep it — it is your proof of filing, and the reference if anything needs to be traced later.
Have these ready before you start
- Your DIN
- Access to the mobile number registered against the DIN
- Access to the registered email inbox
- PAN and Aadhaar for verification of pre-filled data
- Residential proof — Aadhaar, passport, voter ID, driving licence, bank statement or utility bill
- Your MCA V3 login credentials
- Payment method, if filing late or intimating a change
If you cannot receive the OTP, the mobile or email on record has gone stale — and that is a Rule 12A(2) change intimation, not a routine KYC. It is a different filing with a fee attached. Worth checking before the due window rather than during it.
Filing with QwikFilings
Start with a free DIN health check
Most directors have nothing due until 2028 — but a deactivated DIN or a dead registered mobile number is a live problem today, and neither shows up until something breaks. We check that first, free. Filing only follows if you actually need one.
What the check covers
- Verification of your correct due year against the substituted Rule 12A
- Check of DIN status before filing, including deactivation
- Review of registered mobile and email, and whether a Rule 12A(2) intimation is triggered
- End-to-end filing of Form DIR-3 KYC Web, if one is due
- SRN and filing acknowledgement sent to you on WhatsApp
- Your next due year recorded, so the reminder reaches you before it lapses
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Questions
DIR-3 KYC, answered
Is DIR-3 KYC still required at all after the 2026 amendment?
Yes. The requirement has not been abolished — only its frequency has changed. Every individual holding a DIN as on 31 March of a financial year continues to be covered by substituted Rule 12A. What changed is that routine filing now falls once every third consecutive financial year rather than annually.
What is the due date for DIR-3 KYC now?
30 June, replacing the earlier 30 September. Filing is due on or before 30 June of the year immediately following every third consecutive financial year in your cycle.
Do I need to file DIR-3 KYC in FY 2026-27?
Most directors do not. If your DIN was allotted on or before 31 March 2025 and you filed KYC for FY 2025-26, no filing is required for FY 2026-27 or FY 2027-28, provided your particulars have not changed. Your next filing falls between April 2028 and June 2028.
The exception is a change in particulars. A change in your registered mobile, email or residential address triggers a separate 30-day intimation regardless of the year.
My DIN was allotted during FY 2025-26. When is my first KYC due?
Between April 2029 and June 2029, per the Ministry's own illustration, and every third financial year after that.
Does DIR-3 KYC apply if I am not a director in any company?
Yes. The obligation attaches to the Director Identification Number itself, not to any appointment. If you hold a DIN as on 31 March of a financial year, you are covered — whether you have never joined a board, have since resigned, or stand disqualified.
Can I still use the DIR-3 KYC e-Form?
No. The e-Form has been discontinued and merged into a single unified Form DIR-3 KYC Web, which is now the only authorised mode. Any e-Form or web filing left in Draft, Pending, or Pending-for-DSC status was marked Cancelled from 31 March 2026 and needs to be filed afresh.
What is the late fee for DIR-3 KYC?
₹5,000, charged as a flat fee under the Companies (Registration Offices and Fees) Rules, 2014. It does not scale with the length of the delay. Alongside the fee, the DIN is deactivated until the filing is made.
How do I reactivate a DIN deactivated for non-filing?
By filing Form DIR-3 KYC Web with the prescribed fee. There is no separate revival application — the filing itself restores the DIN once processed.
Does filing a change intimation reset my three-year cycle?
No, and this is the most commonly misunderstood part of the amendment. The triennial cycle is anchored to the financial year in which your DIN was allotted. An intimation filed under Rule 12A(2) for a change in mobile, email or address runs on a separate track and leaves your due year exactly where it was.
What happens if I cannot receive the OTP?
It means the mobile number or email registered against your DIN is out of date. Updating them is itself a filing — a Rule 12A(2) change intimation with the prescribed fee — rather than something you can correct inside a routine KYC. Check this well before your due window.
Related
Other filings that sit alongside director KYC
Annual compliance
Related ROC filings
Getting a DIN in the first place