Summary: The Companies (Appointment and Qualification of Directors) Amendment Rules, 2025, effective from 31 March 2026, have significantly changed the DIR-3 KYC compliance framework. DIR-3 KYC is no longer an annual filing and is now required once every three consecutive financial years, with the due date shifted from 30 September to 30 June of the year immediately following the third financial year. The previous DIR-3 KYC e-form and web service have been consolidated into a single Form DIR-3 KYC Web. The filing cycle is linked to the financial year in which the DIN was allotted and not to the date of the last KYC filing. Importantly, any change in mobile number, email address, or address must still be reported within 30 days and does not reset the three-year filing cycle. Failure to file results in DIN deactivation, preventing the holder from acting as a director or making MCA filings until reactivation through filing and payment of a ₹5,000 fee.
DIR-3 KYC — The New 3-Year Rule, Decoded: What changed from 31 March 2026, who files when, and the one trap that catches people.
| THE 30-SECOND VERSION
What changed — DIR-3 KYC is no longer annual. From 31 March 2026 it is filed once every three consecutive financial years (G.S.R. 943(E), 31 Dec 2025). New deadline — 30 June (not 30 September). One form now — the old DIR-3 KYC e-form and the Web service are merged into a single Form DIR-3 KYC Web. Still immediate — any change in mobile / email / address must be filed within 30 days, whatever year of the cycle you are in. |
THREE QUESTIONS EVERYONE IS ASKING
The next due date is counted from the financial year your DIN was allotted — not from your last filing date.
| Your situation | Next DIR-3 KYC due |
| DIN allotted on or before 31 Mar 2025, and KYC filed for FY 2025-26 | April – 30 June 2028 |
| DIN allotted during FY 2025-26 | April – 30 June 2029 |
| DIN allotted during FY 2026-27 | April – 30 June 2030 |
| DIN deactivated (missed an earlier deadline) | File now with ₹5,000 late fee to reactivate |
THE CYCLE, IN ONE LINE
File once every three consecutive financial years, by 30 June of the year immediately following the third year. If nothing changes, you file nothing in the two years in between.
THE TRAP THAT CATCHES PEOPLE
A mid-cycle update does NOT reset the clock. Changing your mobile, email or address is a separate obligation — file it within 30 days — but your three-year due date stays anchored to the year your DIN was allotted. Many assume an amendment filing buys a fresh three years. It does not.
WHO HAS TO FILE
Anyone holding a DIN as on 31 March of a financial year — even if you are not on any board right now. That sweeps in:
– Directors of any company (public, private, OPC, Section 8)
– Directors who resigned but still hold a valid DIN
– Designated Partners of LLPs holding a DIN
– Foreign nationals holding a DIN
– Anyone allotted a DIN, even if dormant or never used
DO YOU NEED A CA / CS / CMA?
– Routine KYC, no change in details — No DSC and no professional certification; verification is by OTP on your registered mobile and email.
– Updating details or reactivating a DIN — The form needs the DIN holder’s DSC and certification by a practising CA / CS / CMA.
FEES
– On-time periodic KYC (by 30 June) —
– Late filing — ₹5,000.
– Reactivating a deactivated DIN — ₹5,000.
– Mid-cycle update — prescribed fee under the Fees Rules; higher if filed after 30 days.
Miss it, and…
The DIN is marked “Deactivated due to non-filing of DIR-3 KYC.” While deactivated you cannot act as a director, cannot be appointed to a new board, and every MCA filing that needs that DIN — annual returns, financials, resolutions — gets blocked. On a two-director company, one deactivated DIN can freeze the company’s entire filing pipeline. Reactivation means filing the form with the ₹5,000 fee. False statements in the form attract Sections 448 and 449.
What to do now
1. Note the financial year your DIN was allotted — that anchors your cycle.
2. Work out your next due date from the table above and diarise 30 June.
3. Treat any change of mobile / email / address as a separate 30-day filing.
4. Keep a DIN tracker (DIN, last KYC year, next due) — MCA shows no next-due utility.
5. Any DIR-3 KYC saved as a draft before 31 March 2026 was auto-cancelled — file a fresh Form DIR-3 KYC Web.
Based on the Companies (Appointment and Qualification of Directors) Amendment Rules, 2025 — G.S.R. 943(E) dated 31 December 2025, effective 31 March 2026, and the accompanying MCA illustrations. General guidance, not advice on a specific filing; verify each DIN’s status and next-due date on the MCA portal.
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