Sections 199 and 200 explained: this guide covers what it means, who it applies to, the step-by-step process, documents required, fees, due dates and penalties in India — so you can stay compliant with confidence and avoid costly mistakes.
Section 199 says that nobody may carry on business as an insolvency professional agency, or enrol insolvency professionals as its members, without a certificate of registration from the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (the Board). Section 200 lists the five principles the Board must have regard to when it registers such agencies. This article explains both sections as per the IBBI consolidated text of the Code amended up to 12 August 2021.
Section 199 closes the door: no registration certificate from the Board, no business as an insolvency professional agency and no enrolment of insolvency professionals as members. The opening words "Save as otherwise provided in this Code" leave room for other provisions of the Code. Section 200 is addressed to the Board, not to the applicant: it tells the Board what to keep in view while registering agencies. Neither section prints a penalty of its own.
Why the Code has insolvency professional agencies at all
The Code runs its processes through insolvency professionals: interim resolution professionals, resolution professionals, liquidators and bankruptcy trustees. Section 206 (explained in article 124) provides that no person may render services as an insolvency professional without being enrolled as a member of an insolvency professional agency and registered with the Board. The agency is therefore the first of two gates, and the Board is the second.
Sections 199 to 205 sit in Chapter III of Part IV, the chapter on insolvency professional agencies. Section 199 controls who may operate such an agency; section 200 guides the Board when it decides whom to register. Registration itself is dealt with in sections 201 and 202 (article 122), and the functions and bye-laws of a registered agency in sections 203 to 205 (article 123). For a wider picture of the sections on the Board, see our post on sections 199 to 205 together. Anyone who needs to test the standing of an agency against these sections can ask for a legal consultation before relying on its enrolment.
Section 199: no certificate, no business
The section is one sentence. Taken in its parts:
- Who is bound: "no person". The text does not limit this to companies; it speaks of any person who "shall carry on its business as insolvency professional agencies under this Code".
- What is barred: carrying on business as an insolvency professional agency under this Code, and enrolling insolvency professionals as its members.
- The condition that lifts the bar: acting "under and in accordance with a certificate of registration issued in this behalf by the Board".
- The carve-out: "Save as otherwise provided in this Code". The sections consulted for this article do not themselves name any case that falls within this carve-out, so the reader should not assume one.
Notice the two limbs. Running the business and enrolling members are both named. An organisation that merely calls itself a professional body, but never carries on business as an agency "under this Code", is not described by the words of section 199. An organisation that does enrol insolvency professionals as its members for the purposes of the Code needs the certificate, and must act "in accordance with" it. That last phrase matters: the certificate can be issued "subject to such terms and conditions as may be specified" (section 201(3)), so acting outside those terms is acting outside the certificate.
Example (invented). Orchid Resolution Forum, a society formed by a group of accountants, begins enrolling members as insolvency professionals and calls itself an insolvency professional agency, but it has applied for no certificate. Section 199 prohibits that. The section does not print a fine or a term of imprisonment; whether any general penalty provision of the Code reaches such a contravention is a separate question, taken up where the Code provides a penalty for contravention of its provisions (see article 136).
Section 200: five principles for the Board
Section 200 begins: "The Board shall have regard to the following principles while registering the insolvency professional agencies under this Code". The five are, in the words of the text:
| Clause | Principle (as printed) |
|---|---|
| (a) | to promote the professional development of and regulation of insolvency professionals |
| (b) | to promote the services of competent insolvency professionals to cater to the needs of debtors, creditors and such other persons as may be specified |
| (c) | to promote good professional and ethical conduct amongst insolvency professionals |
| (d) | to protect the interests of debtors, creditors and such other persons as may be specified |
| (e) | to promote the growth of insolvency professional agencies for the effective resolution of insolvency and bankruptcy processes under this Code |
Three points follow from the text.
- The duty is on the Board. An applicant does not "satisfy" these principles as if they were eligibility conditions. They guide the Board's judgment. Section 201(2) separately says when the Board may grant or refuse a certificate.
- Other persons may be added. Clauses (b) and (d) refer to "such other persons as may be specified". Section 240(2)(zy) lets the Board's regulations specify "the other persons under clause (b) and clause (d) of section 200". What has actually been specified is not in the texts consulted; check the regulations in force.
- The principles look in two directions. Clauses (a), (c) and (e) are about the profession and the agencies; clauses (b) and (d) are about the people who use insolvency professionals' services.
Who is affected
- Persons wishing to set up an agency: they must obtain a certificate before they start, and they should expect the Board to read their application against the five principles.
- Insolvency professionals: they should check that the body that enrolled them holds a certificate, since enrolment with an agency is a precondition under section 206.
- Creditors and corporate debtors: they deal with insolvency professionals who come through registered agencies; sections 199 and 200 are part of the structure that stands behind those appointments.
Rules and regulations
The set that implements these sections is the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Insolvency Professional Agencies) Regulations, 2016; the copy consulted is amended up to 04.07.2022. The date of that copy does not show that any provision of the Amendment Act, 2026 is in force.
What the 2026 amendment Act does here
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Act, 2026 (No. 6 of 2026) does not amend sections 199 or 200 in the copy consulted. It does insert a new definition of "service provider" in section 3 that names an insolvency professional agency among the persons it covers. The Amendment Act, 2026 comes into force on the date or dates the Central Government notifies; the notification is not in the texts consulted, so check whether this change has been notified.
Amendments and notifications made after 12 August 2021, other than the Amendment Act, 2026, are not in the texts consulted and should be checked.
Need help with insolvency professional or agency questions?
If you are setting up a professional body, checking the standing of the agency that enrolled you, or testing a challenge to an appointment, a structured review of the text and your documents saves time. Our team can walk through the position with you on a legal consultation.
Key takeaways
- Section 199 bars any person from carrying on business as an insolvency professional agency, or enrolling insolvency professionals as members, without a certificate of registration from the Board.
- The words "Save as otherwise provided in this Code" keep other provisions of the Code in play.
- Section 200 lists five principles the Board must have regard to when registering agencies; they bind the Board, not the applicant.
- Clauses (b) and (d) of section 200 allow "such other persons as may be specified" to be added, so the regulations must be checked.
- Neither section prints a penalty.
Read next
- Sections 201 and 202: registration of an insolvency professional agency and appeal
- Sections 203 to 205: governing board, functions and bye-laws of an agency
- Sections 206 and 207: enrolment and registration of insolvency professionals
- The IBC ecosystem: the four institutional pillars
Disclaimer: Based on the IBBI consolidated text of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 amended up to 12 August 2021 and on the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Act, 2026 (No. 6 of 2026), which comes into force on the date or dates notified by the Central Government, as consulted on 2 October 2026. It explains the words of the statute only; commencement notifications, other amendments made after 12 August 2021, notified thresholds, the rules and IBBI regulations, and the way tribunals and courts apply these sections should be checked. This article is general information, not legal advice; check the official text before acting.